Amanda Anisimova, with her China Open victory, looks to take over as the U.S. No. 1

For the women, the season only picks up steam after the US Open. There’s a lot to pack in, including two WTA 1000s and the Billie Jean King Cup, before the year concludes in Riyadh on November 8. This weekend the tour reaches top speed, as the players careen from one big event, in Beijing, straight into another, in Wuhan.

With a short window between those tournaments, here’s a review of the former, and a preview of the latter.

Amanda Anisimova looks like the future of American tennis—again

“Like, all my shots were working today, which is like my favorite way to play,” Anisimova said with a laugh after steamrolling her countrywoman Coco Gauff, 6-1, 6-2, in the semifinals in Beijing on Saturday.

Everyone likes when their shots are working, of course. But none of us have shots like Anisimova’s. When she connects properly on a ground stroke, she can be pretty sure the ball isn’t going to come back. Even Gauff, the speediest of opponents, couldn’t do anything against her two-winged barrage, which started with the first swing of every rally.

Ceding just three games to the world No. 3 was a gobsmacking result. But if you’ve followed Anisimova’s career, we already know she can out-slug anyone. What we didn’t know until recently is that she can also outlast and out-compete some of the world’s best players. Twice this week, against two Grand Slam finalists, Karolina Muchova and Jasmine Paolini, Anisimova dropped the first set before coming back to win 6-4 in the third.

With each match, I’ve been surprising myself and trying to learn how to work with physical pain, pushing myself in tough matches. This week has been a lot of progress in that department. Amanda Anisimova

That newfound resilience was on display again in the final versus Linda Noskova. This time Anisimova jumped out of the gates in fifth gear, hitting 11 winners in a bagel first set. A determined Noskova turned that around in the second, and left Anisimova huffing and puffing between points. Once upon a time, Anisimova, who used to look for reasons to doubt, might have believed that this wasn’t her day, or that she was destined to lose another important final, the way she had at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Instead, she gathered herself, shook her racquet determinedly after good shots, and ran away with the third set. The crucial moment came with Noskova serving at 2-3, down break point. The two had been trading blows for an hour and half, with neither woman taking anything off the ball, and neither able to gain a permanent edge. Now they engaged in a bruising rally straight down the middle of the court. Boom, boom, boom, boom—until finally Anisimova proved more powerful, and Noskova lost control of a backhand.

From there Anisimova won the last three games, closing with a fearlessly struck backhand, her 36th winner of the day, and falling to the court in exultation. This time she ran all the way through the finish line.

🖥️📲 The Match in 15 Minutes: The best highlights from Anisimova's win in Beijing

“I think I learned a lot through this week,” Anisimova said. “I think 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, ’cause 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. This week has been a lot of progress in that department.”

That progress shows in the rankings. With her second WTA 1000 title of 2025 (the first came in Doha), Anisimova moves ahead of Gauff, and into third place, in the Race to Riyadh, behind only Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.

When she was 17, Anisimova looked like she might be the future of American women’s tennis. At 24, she’s looking like it again.

Linda Noskova shows progress to go along with her promise

Can she really only be 20 years old? That’s what I found myself thinking more than once while I watched Noskova beat Jessica Pegula and lose to Anisimova this weekend. The Czech seems like a veteran by now, which is what happens when you win the Roland Garros juniors at 16, crack the Top 100 at 17, and beat Swiatek at the Australian Open at 19.

Despite those precocious achievements, her obvious talent and intelligence, and her rise into the Top 25 this season, the 5’10” Noskova seemed like she wasn’t fulfilling her potential—at least to me. Like Anisimova, she has exquisite timing. Her serve, her return, her forehand, her backhand: She can pummel them as hard and as accurately as anyone.

But like Anisimova in the past, it doesn’t take much for Noskova to stop believing in those abilities. She gets down on herself and starts hanging head quickly, and a seemingly innocent mistake in the middle of a match can lead to a permanent drop in her level.

This weekend it was different. In the semis, Noskova bounced back from a 1-6 second set, and saved three match points, against the much higher-ranked Pegula. In the final, she regrouped after losing the first set to Anisimova 6-0, and grabbed the initiative from her in the second with a series of brilliant, first-strike service returns. Noskova lost in the end, but still had a winning week.

Hopefully, it’s enough to make her believe she should be holding trophies at tournaments like this in the future.

What to look for in Wuhan

After two weeks in Beijing, Anisimova and Noskova will make the two-hour flight south to Wuhan, where their colleagues await. The draw there isn’t as large—56 players instead of 96. And the purse isn’t as large, either—$3.6 million instead of $8.9 million. But the field will be stronger at the top, now that No. 1 Sabalenka has returned to action.

🖥️📲 Stream WTA Wuhan live, starting Monday, on the Tennis Channel app

Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva, Pegula, Paolini and Elena Rybakina arę the Top 8 seeds. There are two races—one for No. 1, and one to qualify for the WTA Finals in Riyadh—to watch.

Sabalenka, the defending champion, leads Swiatek by a solid 1,600 points in the race for No. 1. A title run by Iga would bring her closer as the season-ending championships approach. Each has a draw that looks equally difficult this week.

Sabalenka’s path could be: Kalinskaya, Samsonova, either Rybakina or Osaka in the quarters, and either Anisomova or Pegula in the semis.

Swiatek’s path could be: Bencic in the third round, Paolini in the quarters, and Gauff or Andreeva in the semis.

As for the race to Riyadh, Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Anisimova, and Madison Keys, who is missing the Asian swing, have qualified. Pegula, Andreeva, and Rybakina currently hold the last three spots. Paolini, two hundred points behind Rybakina at No. 9, is within striking distance, and Ekaterina Alexandrova, 600 points out, has a long-shot chance. All of them, minus Keys, are in Wuhan.

Early-round matches to watch:

• Osaka vs. Leylah Fernandez. The winner could play Noskova

• Alexandrova vs. Victoria Mboko

• Muchova vs. Marta Kostyuk

• Gauff vs. Emma Navarro (possible third round)

• Belinda Bencic vs. Donna Vekic