PARIS, June 6: American teenager Amanda Anisimova stunned defending champion Simona Halep on Thursday to reach a French Open semifinal against Australian eighth seed Ashleigh Barty.
The 17-year-old downed Romanian star Halep 6-2, 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier, while Barty saw off 14th seed Madison Keys 6-3, 7-5 to also become a first-time Grand Slam semifinalist. The last-four ties will be played on Friday, after Wednesday�s downpour in Paris caused a backlog of matches.
�This is more than I could have asked for,� said Anisimova, who is the youngest player to reach a major semifinal since Czech Nicole Vaidisova at the 2007 Australian Open.
She is also the youngest American woman to make the last four at a major since Venus Williams at the 1997 US Open, and the youngest to reach the semis at Roland Garros since Jennifer Capriati in 1990.
�I knew if I wanted to win today I would have to do something different because it wasn�t going to be easy,� Anisimova added.
�I�m really happy with the performance because it�s one of the best matches I�ve ever played.�
The defeat for third seed Halep means it has now been 12 years since the last successful title defence in Paris � Belgian Justine Henin�s third straight triumph in 2007. � AFP
