HSBC Championships 2025: Tatjana Maria & Amanda Anisimova set up final clash
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Either Amanda Anisimova or Tatjana Maria will become the first women’s singles champion at The Queen’s Club for 52 years after both came through tough semi-finals in the HSBC Championships.
37-year-old German qualifier Maria continued her dream run at Queen’s after upsetting second seed and Australian Open champion Madison Keys 6-3, 7-6(3).
In the final, she will meet world No.15 Anisimova who defeated top seed and world No.5 Qinwen Zheng 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes.
A former Wimbledon semi-finalist, Maria has now knocked out the world No.14, 11 and 8 en route to her first WTA 500 final.
She’s only the fourth player to come through qualifying to reach a WTA 500 final on grass.
“Oh my god, I cannot believe it, it’s a dream come true,” said Maria in her on-court interview after the match.
“It’s amazing to play here. It’s such a special place. I couldn’t wish for a better tournament to be in the final – I’m so, so proud.”
Maria had lost her previous nine matches coming into the HSBC Championships, but back on the grass where she’s had some of the best results of her career, the German has shown the belief in her ability against some of the top players in the world.
“You always have to keep going, you can’t stop no matter how it goes,” she said. “I think I’m a good example for this. You always have your ups and downs but you have to keep going. I love playing tennis, I love this sport and I live for these special moments.”
Eighth seed Anisimova added a second top 10 win in as many days against Zheng, building on her quarter-final victory over third seed Emma Navarro.
It looked to be straight forward match for the American after leading by a set and an early break in the second but after a tight service game at 2-1, she let the Chinese star back in the match.
The same thing happened in the third set and it seemed like it wasn’t going to be Anisimova’s day as she stared down three break points trailing 3-2. However, the former Roland Garros semi-finalist dug deep to move 5-3 in front and eventually serve out the match to love.
“I’m so happy to be through this match – I’ve never got a win over her,” the American said. “Every time we’ve played we’ve had some really tough battles and I think I was just relieved there at the end.
“The conditions were tricky so I’m sure we struggled a bit from that but we still managed to play some good tennis so I’m happy with that. I’m happy with the way I was able to stay composed and just fight my way through.”
Through to her first grass court final, Anisimova is now preparing to face a very different type of challenge against the heavy slice of Maria.
“It’s going to be tricky on grass,” she added, commenting on the final ahead. “I’m super happy to see her in the final, it’s incredible what she’s doing. It’s really special for her and it’s going to be a great final.
“The crowd have been amazing this week and I’ve been having a lot of fun playing out here. I’m really excited to be in my first grass final and especially here, I love playing in London.”
HSBC Championships final: Tatjana Maria vs Amanda Anisimova
This will be the first main draw meeting between Maria and Anisimova, having only ever faced each other in Beijing qualifiers back in 2018 where the German won in three sets.
Maria is a three-time WTA title winner, with one trophy on grass at Mallorca in 2018. She achieved her career-best result at a Grand Slam back in 2022 when she made the semi-finals of Wimbledon, knocking out then world No.5 Maria Sakkari and former Roland Garros champion Jelana Ostapenko.
Meanwhile, former US Open junior champion Anisimova made headlines with a run to the final four in Paris back in 2019 and has since reached the quarter-finals in Wimbledon (2022).
The American is in to her sixth WTA final this week and has now made two in the same season for the first time – adding to her WTA 1000 title in Doha.
How to watch the HSBC Championships final
Live coverage of the HSBC Championships final between Tatjana Maria and Amanda Anisimova will be shown live across BBC TV, iPlayer and BBC Sport.
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