Anastasia Potapova stuns Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-5 to reach maiden US Open fourth round

Anastasia Potapova has never gone past the third round in New York. On Saturday at Louis Armstrong Stadium, the 24th seed tore that ceiling down. She beat last year’s finalist Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-5 to reach the last 16 of the US Open for the first time.

The American 10th seed, who reached the 2025 final here before losing to Aryna Sabalenka, never found her range. Potapova, now representing Austria, was the clearer, cleaner player from the first game. A place in the second week is hers.

Anastasia Potapova takes the first set in a rush

Amanda Anisimova arrived as a heavy favourite. She had dropped a set to Austria’s Lilli Tagger in the second round, then closed that match 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. This time the slump came earlier and lasted longer.

Anastasia Potapova broke almost immediately and kept the pressure on. She won the opener 6-2, mixing depth off both wings with a serve that Anisimova could not attack. The 25-year-old from Saratov, who switched sporting nationality to Austria at the end of 2025, looked settled. Anisimova, also 25, looked rushed. Errors piled up on both big points and routine ones.

It was a role reversal from their junior days. They first met as teenagers. Potapova won a $25k final in Curitiba in 2017. Anisimova answered in Rome qualifying two years later. They had never played on hard courts as pros. Saturday’s surface suited the underdog.

Second set stays tight until the finish

Amanda Anisimova did not fold. She tightened her game in the second set and forced Potapova to serve it out the hard way. Breaks were traded. The scoreboard stayed close through 5-5.

That was as far as the recovery went. Potapova held her nerve, took the last two games and closed 7-5. The match never needed a third set. For a player who had to grind through three sets against wild card Leolia Jeanjean on Thursday, this was a cleaner afternoon.

After that messy second-round win, Potapova had said: “It was one of those days when you have to fight until the end and not many things work. But the most important thing is that you find a solution. I have a real fight behind me, it can only get better. That’s the good thing about it.” On Saturday, the solution arrived early.

What the result means in New York

The win is Potapova’s best result at Flushing Meadows. She had reached the third round here in 2024 and gone out to Karolina Muchova. This year she already made the last 16 at Roland Garros, where she knocked out defending champion Coco Gauff. New York now has the same stamp.

Anisimova’s summer of near-misses continues. Two major finals in 2025 ended in defeat. A French Open third-round exit to Diane Parry in May was another jolt. This one will sting more because it came at her home Slam, against a player she was expected to handle.

Potapova is Austria’s last singles player in the draw after Tagger’s second-round loss. The fourth-round draw will decide whether her first trip into the second week of the US Open lasts more than one more match. For one afternoon on Armstrong, the ranking gap did not matter.