Sofia Kenin reaches All-American final in Charleston after Amanda Anisimova's injury retirement

Sofia Kenin secured her place in the final of the WTA 500 Charleston Open after Amanda Anisimova retired due to back pain at the start of the first set. The recent WTA 1000 Doha Open champion has been struggling with injuries again and withdrew with the score at 2-5 in the first set.

On the other hand, former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin will play in her 10th final and will aim for her first title since March 2020 at the Lyon Open. The World No. 44 advanced, probably not in the way she desired, as she played only a few minutes against her compatriot Anisimova, but she can still celebrate a great run in the tournament so far.

Kenin was leading 2-1 (30-30) when Anisimova suffered evident back discomfort after a forehand, quickly requesting a medical timeout. After being treated, she returned to the court but appeared to have limited mobility.

The 23-year-old player tried to compensate for the difficult situation by playing aggressively from the baseline and searching for winners near the lines. However, her serves were not very effective, and when Kenin forced her to move around the court, Anisimova often stood still.

Eventually, Anisimova decided to retire at 2-5 due to what appeared to be a recurrence of a back injury that has plagued her throughout her career. Although it seemed to be behind her in the past year, Anisimova has now experienced another setback with her lower back, and it remains to be seen if it will affect the rest of her clay-court season.

Kenin will play in her 10th career final. She hasn’t won a title since Lyon 2020 and has lost in her last three title matches. This will be only the second time the former World No. 4 has reached a clay-court final since Roland Garros 2020. She will play an all-American final against top seed Jessica Pegula, who will also be aiming for her first title on the surface.