The 2024 National Bank Open final in Toronto will be a matchup between two American players: defending champion Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova.
The 22-year-old Amanda Anisimova took a mental health break from competition last season, which caused her WTA ranking to drop outside the Top 350. However, she has made an impressive comeback on the hard-court swing leading up to the US Open. While she played just eleven matches in 2023, she has played ten in the last 16 days, including a quarterfinal run at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C., as a qualifier, and now reaching the final of the National Bank Open.
In an all-American semifinal held under windy conditions in Toronto, Anisimova defeated the eighth seed, Emma Navarro, 6-3 2-6 6-2. The former world No. 21, now ranked No. 132, has taken down four Top 20 players in Toronto, including No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 12 Daria Kasatkina, No. 15 Navarro, and No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya. This remarkable run makes Anisimova the lowest-ranked finalist at the tournament in 40 years and the second-lowest-ranked finalist in a WTA 1000 event since the format’s introduction 15 years ago.
