When Amanda Anisimova watched Harmony Tan’s first-round upset of Serena Williams in the Dog and Fox pub in Wimbledon village, she didn’t really clock her unusual style at the time. Clearly the American has done her homework since, because she brought a swift end to Tan’s surprise run here, dispatching the world No 115 6-2, 6-3 with a blithe assurance that will only add to comparisons with a certain other player of Russian descent.
The rangy legs, the blonde plait swinging from behind the visor – even the way the 20-year-old, who was born to Russian parents in New Jersey, holds her racket is reminiscent of her role model Maria Sharapova, with whom she shares an agent. Her lithe movement around the court here, not to mention the power with which she hit from the back of it, hints that the idolatry may not be in vain.
