Amanda Anisimova and Linda Noskova will play in Sunday's final of WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing. Both the finalists made into title match after contrary looking semifinals on Saturday. Anisimova has crushed her fellowcountry Coco Gauff in a hit clash between third and second seed. Gauff's Beijing title defence bid stopped after a storming performance displayed by Anisimova who won by 6-1 6-2 in just one hour of play. Linda Noskova earned her sensational advance into final after putting an upset over Jessica Pegula in thrilling three-setter, after coming back from three matchpoints wasted by the American.
Unplayable Anisimova
Anisimova looked like unstoppable in a hit all-American clash, showing that the ceilling of her abilities is sky-high, when she is really on. The current Wimbledon and US Oen runner-up has completely overplayed her opponent, being extremely powerful and efficient on return and utilizing the advantage of her excellent backhand over liabilities of Gauff's forehand side. The world number three managed to win just 39% points on first serve and 38% on second serve, mostly due to Anisimova's devastating her with powerful shots and dominating in any rallies that happened. The match could even end up with a bagel in second set, but Anisimova dropped the only one service game on that day while leading 5-0. She faced just 7 pressure points on that day on serve, producing 20 in the match which lasted just one hour.
The quarterfinal against Jasmine Paolini was the only tough match on Anisimova's road to the final, where the American was not playing at her best, being quite close to get eliminated in tight three-setter. At the end, she overplayed the Italian with her powerful hitting, which compensated ton of unforced errors committed throughout whole the match. Apart from that, Anisimova displayed dominant performance in all matches played in Beijing and seems to be on the hot run to her second WTA 1000 title after maiden victory taken in Doha in February.
Noskova's comeback in a thriller
Linda Noskova produced the comeback of the tournament, saving three matchpoints to defeat Jessica Pegula 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(6) in an absolute thriller that lasted over two hours. The 20-year-old Czech, who won the opening set comfortably 6-3, completely lost her way in the second as Pegula stormed back with a crushing 6-1 display to level the match. The deciding set became a mental battle where Pegula appeared to have the finish line in sight. The American was serving for a match, being 6-5 on a scoreline in third set after coming back from losing the first one. Decider was shaky with multiple breaks from both sides, but it seemed like Pegula found a way to cross the finish line. The American blew away the 6-5 40-15 lead on own serve ang being up a minibreak in the tiebreak.
Noskova's resillience paid off, while Pegula has unexpectedly lost her mind since not converting any of her matchpoints. She overshoot during the rallies in decisive points of tiebreak which was an opposite to her steel nerves when coming back from matchpoints against Emma Raducanu, or regrouping very well after losing the opening set against Emma Navarro, which was also almost on Pegula's account at some point with missed setpoints. The American prevailed in three consecutive three-setters, but Noskova was the first one to put up a fight till the end in this tournament against Pegula which got rewarded with career's first advance into final.
The Czech's path to the final has been impressive throughout the tournament. She opened with a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Xiyu Wang, followed by a significant scalp when home favorite and Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng was forced to retire while trailing 6-4, 3-6, 3-0. Noskova then dispatched Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals before her comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over Sonay Kartal, who showed an exceptional run of form in Beijing until being effectively disarmed by Noskova's all-round game in the quarters.
Final preview
Anisimova seems to rely on her serve very well, but according to the stats, it's Noskova who records better serving numbers throughout the whole season on hard courts - 77% to 74% of service games won, 71% to 67% of first serve 52% to 49% of second serve points. However, Anisimova plays much over her average in Beijing, winning 85% of service games to Noskova's 77%, and especially being clutch in crucial moments - 52.5% of breakpoints converted and 74% of breakpoints saved.
Recent few weeks looks like Anisimova's resurgence and finding the new level of lethality and consistency which can make her a new top contender to biggest titles in longer perspective alongside Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek. She shows abilities to overplay every opponent on tour with her hard and clean hitting. Anisimova produces 2.41 pressure points on average in return game in compare to Noskova's 1.87 on hard courts in 2025, however Noskova faces 0.34 pressure point less on average in service games. Anisimova's tools translate into winning matches very well, with her match efficiency ratio twice as high as her Sunday's opponent's. Noskova was very consistent since the start of a season but is still yet to clinch any title in 2025. Winning on Sunday would be best reward for the strongest season in her career so far, however Anisimova looks unstoppable if she brings the level from match against Gauff for instance. Both played twice so far - Noskova won their only meeting on hard in 2023, Anisimova prevailed in tight three-setter in round of 16 of Wimbledon three months ago.
