French Open: 17-Year-Old Anisimova Dumps Defending Champ Halep
To absolutely no one's surprise, time does march on.
This obviosity has been underscored yet again by the latest suprise in the women's bracket at the French Open.
When teenager Amanda Anisimova sent defending champion Simona Halep packing in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, she became the first player born in the 2000s to reach the last eight at a Slam.
Anisimova's confidence was sky-high after just winning her first tournament as a pro in Bogota, and -- whaddaya know -- it was on clay.
The slower surface enabled her -- born and bred in the USA, incidentally, to Russian immigrants -- to withstand Halep's power game and seemed in control from the outset:
The top seeds have been mowed down from the start of this tournament. Among them:
- Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniacki didn't get past the first round, and
- Serena Williams and WTA No 1 Naomi Osaka crashed out in the third round,
The highest seed still standing is No 8 Ash Barty, who just eliminated No 14 Madison Keys, 6-4,7-5.
Whoever emerges victorious here will have won their first Slam title.
Anisimova is the youngest semi-finalist at Roland Garros since Nicole Vaidsiova in 2006, so score one for Gen Z.
What's more, she's won every set here so far.
Emphasis on so far. The tough sledding likely begins in the semi-finals.