A new Beijing champion awaits: Making the case for Anisimova and Noskova

We’re down to Sunday’s final two in Beijing.

It’s an exceedingly fresh matchup between No. 3 seed Amanda Anisimova and No. 26 Linda Noskova. They are, respectively, 24 and 20 -- a combined age one year younger than Venus Williams.

This is only the second WTA 1000 final between two players born this century.

Anisimova dazzled defending champion Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday. It matched the fewest games she’s ever lost in a completed Hologic WTA Tour match.

“I felt like I couldn’t really have a chance of getting a rhythm out there,” a disappointed Gauff said.

“Like all my shots were working today, which is like my favorite way to play,” Anisimova told reporters afterward. “I didn’t really have to adjust much.”

It’s the fifth final this year for Anisimova -- only Aryna Sabalenka (eight) has more.

Later, Noskova saved three match points, then took down No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (6) to advance to her first career WTA 1000 final.

She’s the youngest Czech Republic player in three decades to reach a final at this level, surpassing Petra Kvitova.

“It was a roller-coaster match,” Noskova said. “That’s why I cherish this one. It definitely could have gone either way. It’s not easy to play someone like her. I feel like we were both kind of exhausted at the end.”

They’ve met only twice and it’s a dead heat. Noskova was a 7-6 (6), 6-3 winner two years ago at Indian Wells, while Anisimova prevailed 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 this year in the Round of 16 at Wimbledon.

We make the case for each finalist:

Advantage, Anisimova

Heading into a tournament, sometimes a player just knows she is destined for success. For Anisimova, the days leading to this China Open were not one of those times.

“Were you at my practices?” she asked a reporter. “Oh, my God.”

Nothing in the ramp-up to Beijing suggested she would advance to the final. After losing in the US Open, she “took too much time off” and “didn’t really feel like I was match-fit.”

Anisimova had a wisdom tooth extracted the same day she flew the 7,775 miles to China and wondered if she should have forced the issue. Yet, here she is, on the strength of back-to-back wins over Top 10 players Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini.

Only Aryna Sabalenka (10) has defeated more Top 10 players in 2025 than the eight victories posted by Anisimova and Swiatek.

“When I’m not feeling my best physically or I’m facing a challenge, I think I pay so much attention to that that I actually play better because I don’t have as much pressure and I’m just seeing how far I can get.

“With each match, I’ve been surprising myself and trying to learn how to work with physical pain, pushing myself in tough matches.”

After two draining three-set matches, Anisimova needed only 58 minutes to defeat Gauff. That bought her some precious recovery time, a substantial advantage because she finished her match more than four hours before Pegula -- seven years older -- won her fourth straight three-set match.

In her mind, there’s nothing she can’t achieve. For the first time in her career, she’s reached back-to-back finals. This is the player who defeated World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon and No. 2 Iga Swiatek at the US Open?

Asked about her potential opponent in the final, either Noskova or Pegula, Anisimova said it didn’t matter.

“It’s going to be definitely another challenge for sure, a tough match,” she said. “I always try to stick with the same things that I do. My approach is going to be the same as it has been with every match.”

Advantage, Noskova

With three Americans in the final four, Noskova has flown a bit under the radar here, but she’s playing the tournament of her life.

After dispatching China’s Wang Xiyu in her first match, she drew Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen in her second -- and prevailed in the third set via retirement. Anastasia Potapova and Sonay Kartal went in straight sets leading to the semifinal against Pegula.

Noskova actually displayed more poise under duress than Pegula, who is 11 years her senior. She saved 10 of 15 break points, those three match points, and won the last two points of the deciding tiebreak.

Serving with authority, even on this slow hard-court surface, Noskova knocked out 11 aces, against seven double faults. She leads the tournament with 24 aces and is second only to Elena Rybakina (380) with 336 for the year. Noskova will have to come up with another similar service effort against Anisimova, who returned extremely well against Gauff, recording five breaks.

“I will try to prepare myself,” Noskova said. “With the [Anisimova] matches before, last one was a good one. I will try to find what I could have done better, try to focus on myself. It works for me all the time.

“Try to find my groundstrokes, find my serve and we’ll see how it goes. I don’t think there will be as many rallies as today.”

This is a bookend of sorts for the Czech Republic player. After claiming multiple Top 10 wins over Daria Kasatkina and Ons Jabeur nearly three years ago in Adelaide, she’s done it again for the second time in her career. She’s the youngest Czech player to do that in a WTA 1000 event in 35 years -- a remarkable achievement considering the great talent that country has produced.

In the past, the China Open has proved to be a breakthrough event. Seven years ago, Anastasija Sevastova reached her first WTA 1000 final here. Noskova looks to take the next step, joining Svetlana Kuznetsova (2009) and Garbine Muguruza (2015) as first-time 1000 champions in Beijing.

Noskova is a streaky player, and she’s on one of those jags right now. She won four matches earlier this year to get to the final at the Prague Open and now she’s won five. Don’t be surprised if it’s six.

No woman has won more matches in Asia this year than Noskova, who pushed that total to 13.