2016–17: French Open debut, ITF Circuit title In the middle of 2016, Anisimova received a wildcard into
US Open qualifying, her first professional tournament. She won her debut match against world No. 124,
Verónica Cepede Royg, at the age of 14, then lost in the following round. Following her junior title at the 2017
Copa Gerdau in February, Anisimova stayed in Brazil and played in a
25k event in Curitiba. She reached her first final on the pro tour in her first professional main draw. A few weeks later, Anisimova was awarded a wildcard into the
Miami Open where she lost to
Taylor Townsend, in three sets, in her WTA Tour main-draw debut. During the clay-court season, Anisimova won the USTA French Open Wildcard Challenge by reaching back-to-back finals at the
80k event in Indian Harbour Beach and the
60k event in Dothan, Alabama the following week. These results also helped her crack the top 300 of the WTA rankings. After forgoing the grass-court season, Anisimova continued to play on the ITF Pro Circuit. She broke into the top 200 by capturing her first professional title at the
60k event in Sacramento, California towards the end of July while she was still 15 years old.
2018: Top 100, WTA Tour final, top 10 win Anisimova's first two tournaments of the year were the inaugural Challenger Series events at
Newport Beach and
Indian Wells. She qualified for both main draws, and her semifinal at Indian Wells helped her earn a main-draw wildcard into the WTA Tour event there the following week. At the
Indian Wells Open, Anisimova became the youngest player to reach the fourth round since
Nicole Vaidišová in 2005. She defeated
Pauline Parmentier for her first WTA Tour match win, No. 23
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and then No. 9
Petra Kvitová. Her run ended against No. 5
Karolína Plíšková. Anisimova was also awarded a wildcard into the
Miami Open. She won her opening match against
Wang Qiang despite injuring her right foot in the third set. This injury forced her to withdraw from the tournament and kept her out for four months. At the time, she had risen to a career-high ranking of No. 128 in the world. Anisimova returned to tennis in July at the
Silicon Valley Classic. She qualified for the main draw and won her first match back, which was also against Wang Qiang. She then reached the third round of the
Cincinnati Open to return to the top 150. After losing her opening match as a wildcard at the
US Open, Anisimova next entered the
Japan Women's Open. In her first tournament as a 17-year-old, she qualified for the main draw and made it to her first career WTA final, dropping just one set overall and none in the main draw before the final. She defeated top seed and world No. 41,
Zhang Shuai, in the semifinals but lost the final to
Hsieh Su-wei. With this performance, she cracked the top 100 for the first time.
2019: First WTA Tour title, French Open semifinals Anisimova played one tune-up event before the
Australian Open, reaching the quarterfinals at the
Auckland Open. Having never won a singles match at a major, Anisimova made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open. She won her first three matches in straight sets, including a victory over one of the favorites for the title in world No. 11,
Aryna Sabalenka, losing to eventual finalist Petra Kvitová. The following two months, she did not record more than a single match win at any of her next four tournaments. Having skipped the clay-court season the previous year due to injury, Anisimova entered the
Copa Colsanitas in Colombia without any match wins on clay at the WTA Tour level. Nonetheless, she won the tournament for her first career title. As the sixth seed, she won four of her five matches in three sets, including the final against
Astra Sharma. Anisimova closed out the clay-court season by becoming the youngest semifinalist at the
French Open since Vaidišová in
2006. During the tournament, she defeated 11th seed Sabalenka again in the second round, and then upset the defending champion and world No. 3, Simona Halep, in the quarterfinals. She did not lose a set until the semifinals when she was defeated by the eventual champion and world No. 8,
Ashleigh Barty, despite coming from behind to win the first set, after losing the first five games and needing to save two set points in the sixth game. With this result, she rose to No. 26 in the world. She dealt with a back injury during the event, which led her to withdraw from both Premier 5 events within the next month. Late in August, she withdrew from the
US Open following the death of her father. She entered two more tournaments afterward, winning one match in total, and then she ended her year early. Nonetheless, she reached as high as No. 21 in the world near the end of the season.
2020–21: Two major third rounds Anisimova began 2020 at the
Auckland Open, where, after defeating
Kateryna Kozlova,
Daria Kasatkina, and
Eugenie Bouchard, she fell to top seed and eventual champion
Serena Williams in the semifinals. At the
2020 US Open, she recorded wins over
Viktoriya Tomova and wildcard entrant
Katrina Scott, at which point she lost to 15th seed
Maria Sakkari in the third round. Anisimova also made it through to the third round at the delayed
2020 French Open, defeating
Tamara Korpatsch and
Bernarda Pera, before her run was ended by top seed
Simona Halep. In 2021, Anisimova reached two WTA Tour quarterfinals, at the
Emilia-Romagna Open, losing to third seed and eventual champion
Coco Gauff, and at the
Bad Homburg Open, where she was again eliminated by the eventual tournament winner, fourth seed
Angelique Kerber.
2022: Melbourne title, top 25 Anisimova started the season at the
Melbourne Summer Set 2. She made it to the final, her first final appearance since 2019. She won her second career singles title by defeating qualifier
Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final. At the
Australian Open, she stunned 22nd seed, Belinda Bencic, in the second round. In the third round, she came from a set down and saved two match points in the final set to upset 2019 and 2021 champion,
Naomi Osaka. This marked the second time she has beaten a defending champion at a major, having beaten Simona Halep at the
2019 French Open. She subsequently lost in the fourth round to world No. 1 and eventual champion, Ashleigh Barty. As a result, she moved 19 positions up in the rankings to No. 41 on January 31, 2022. In February, Anisimova played at the
Dubai Championships but fell in the first round of qualifying to
Madison Brengle. In
Doha, she lost in the second round to
Jeļena Ostapenko. In March, she competed at
Indian Wells where she beat compatriot
Emma Navarro. In the second round, she faced
Leylah Fernandez: Anisimova won the first set 6–2, and in the second, she had a 5–4 lead and had match points, but Fernandez saved all four match points and took the second set to a tiebreaker. Fernandez won the tiebreaker 7–0. After the second set ended, Anisimova visibly emotional approached the chair umpire to say that she was ill and retiring from the match. At the
Miami Open, she was beaten in the first round by
Shelby Rogers. Anisimova started her clay-court season at the
Charleston Open. Seeded 15th, she stunned top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the third round. She reached the semifinals where she lost to
Ons Jabeur. In
Madrid, she upset Aryna Sabalenka, in the first round for her fifth career top-10 victory. In the third round, she beat
Victoria Azarenka for the tenth top-20 win of her career. She lost in the quarterfinals to qualifier
Ekaterina Alexandrova. At the
Italian Open, she beat Belinda Bencic in the second round. She then upset
Danielle Collins in the third round. In the quarterfinals, she lost to Aryna Sabalenka, her first loss to Sabalenka having led their head-to-head 4–0. Seeded 27th at the
French Open, she defeated four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, in the first round. She reached the fourth round where she lost to Leylah Fernandez. Anisimova started her grass-court season at the
Bad Homburg Open. Seeded sixth, she reached the quarterfinals where she lost to Simona Halep. Seeded 20th at
Wimbledon, she came from a set down to defeat
Coco Gauff in the third round. She defeated
Harmony Tan in the fourth round to reach the quarterfinals at this major for the first time in her career but lost her match against Simona Halep. In August, Anisimova began on the
US Open Series by competing at the
Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose where she beat Karolína Plíšková in the second round. She lost in the quarterfinals to eventual finalist Shelby Rogers. At the
Canadian Open in Toronto, she was defeated in the second round by 14th seed and last year finalist, Karolína Plíšková. At the
Cincinnati Open, she ousted Daria Kasatkina in the first round.
2023: Break from tennis Anisimova started her season in
Adelaide. At
the first tournament, she lost in the first round to
Veronika Kudermetova. At
the second Adelaide event, she fell in the final round of qualifying to
Jil Teichmann. However, due to
Jessica Pegula withdrawing from the tournament due to change of schedule, she entered the main draw as a lucky loser. She beat
Liudmila Samsonova in the first round, and was defeated in the second by
Beatriz Haddad Maia. Seeded 28th at the
Australian Open, she lost in round one to
Marta Kostyuk, in straight sets. In February, Anisimova competed at
Dubai defeating wildcard and two-time major finalist,
Vera Zvonareva, in the first round. She was beaten in her second-round match by Victoria Azarenka despite having a 5–3 lead in the third set. In March, she played at the
Indian Wells Open. Seeded 31st, she lost in the second round to
Linda Nosková. In
Miami, she retired during her first-round match against Madison Brengle. At the
Madrid Open, Anisimova lost in the first round to qualifier
Arantxa Rus. On May 5th, she announced on her Instagram account that she would be taking an indefinite break from tennis, citing burnout and concerns for her mental health.
2024: First WTA 1000 final, top 50 Anisimova beat
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in her return to tennis at the
Auckland Open. She returned to the Grand Slam tournaments at the
Australian Open with wins over 13th seed Liudmila Samsonova,
Nadia Podoroska, and
Paula Badosa to reach the fourth round at this major. In the beginning of her clay-court season, she entered the
Charleston Open using her protected ranking and defeated Alizé Cornet. At the beginning of the American summer hardcourt swing at the
Washington Open, she qualified for the main draw and reached her first quarterfinal in two years with wins over
Sloane Stephens and seventh seed Pavlyuchenkova. Using protected ranking again, she made her first career WTA 1000 final at the
Canadian Open in Toronto, defeating
Caroline Dolehide, and upsetting two Russian seeds, fifth seed Daria Kasatkina and tenth seed
Anna Kalinskaya by retirement, and finally second seed, Aryna Sabalenka, and eighth seed Emma Navarro. She was the lowest-ranked women's singles finalist at the tournament in 40 years, since
Alycia Moulton in 1984. Anisimova lost the final in three sets to Jessica Pegula but returned to the top 50, moving more than 80 positions up from No. 132 on 12 August 2024. At the newly upgraded WTA 500
Korea Open, Anisimova upset sixth seed
Yulia Putintseva in straight sets. She retired while trailing in her second round match against
Viktoriya Tomova. Having received a bye in the first round at the
WTA 1000 China Open, Anisimova defeated
Camila Osorio and ninth seed Daria Kasatkina to make it through to the fourth round, where she lost to fifth seed
Zheng Qinwen in three sets.
2025: Wimbledon and US Open finalist, world No. 4 Seeded third, Anisimova defeated wildcard entrant
Daria Saville and
Anna Bondár to reach her first quarterfinal of the season at the
Hobart International, but withdrew from the tournament due to illness prior to the start of her last-eight match against sixth-seed
Elina Avanesyan. Anisimova won her first
WTA 1000 title at the
Qatar Ladies Open by defeating Jelena Ostapenko in the final, in straight sets. As a result, she reached the top 20 in the singles rankings at world No. 18, on February 17, 2025. At the
Charleston Open, she advanced to the quarterfinals defeating tenth seed Yulia Putintseva. Next, she upset fourth-seeded Emma Navarro, before she had to retire in her semifinal match against Sofia Kenin. Following the
French Open, where she reached round four for the third time, defeating 22nd seed
Clara Tauson, Anisimova made her top 15 debut on June 9, 2025. At the newly upgraded WTA 500
Queen's Club Championships, Anisimova reached her first grass-court semifinal, defeating third seed Emma Navarro. She reached her first final on grass courts defeating top seed Zheng Qinwen. As a result, her ranking rose to No. 12. Seeded 13th at
Wimbledon, Anisimova
double-bageled Yulia Putintseva in the first round. She defeated
Renata Zarazúa and
Dalma Gálfi to reach the fourth round, where she recovered from a setback in the final set to defeat 30th seed Linda Nosková to advance to the quarterfinals for the second time. Facing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Anisimova recovered from being down in the second-set tiebreak (after holding two match points), saving five set points in the tiebreak to reach her first major semifinal in six years and ensuring a top-10 ranking. She then upset world No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, in three sets to advance to her first major final, where she lost to
Iga Świątek by a "double bagel" in what
The Guardian called "the most one-sided final in 114 years". Nonetheless, Anisimova made her top 10 debut following the tournament, as her ranking climbed to world No. 7 on July 14, 2025. Anisimova lost in straight sets to Aryna Sabalenka with the second set reaching a tiebreak. However, she recorded a new career-high ranking of world No. 4, on September 8, 2025. At the
Australian Open, she defeated
Simona Waltert,
Kateřina Siniaková,
Peyton Stearns and
Wang Xinyu to reach the quarterfinals, at which point her run was ended by sixth seed Jessica Pegula. In February at the
Dubai Tennis Championships, Anisimova was given a bye as second seed and then a walkover when
Barbora Krejčíková withdrew from the tournament due to a thigh injury. She then recorded wins over wildcard entrant
Janice Tjen and fifth seed
Mirra Andreeva to make it through to the semifinals, where she lost to fourth seed Jessica Pegula in three sets. Anisimova reached back-to-back WTA 1000 fourth rounds in March at
Indian Wells, where she lost to 10th seed
Victoria Mboko, and in
Miami, where she was eliminated by 12th seed
Belinda Bencic. In April she withdrew from the
Madrid Open because of a wrist injury. ==Playing style==