17-Year-Old French Open Tennis Semifinalist Has Freehold Twp Ties

A 17-year-old American tennis player who's the talk of the 2019 French Open is giving New Jersey something to brag about.

Amanda Anisimova, who upended defending French Open champion Simona Halep on Wednesday, is originally from New Jersey. Freehold Township, to be exact.

Anisimova, who will face Australian Ashleigh Barty in Friday's semifinal, defeated Halep, 6-2, 6-4, on Wednesday and has yet to drop a set at the French Open.

According to her Women's Tennis Association biography, Anisimova was born in Freehold Township on Aug. 31, 2001. She moved to Florida at age 3 with her family, which includes her parents, Konstantin and Olga Anisimova, and older sister, Maria, according to an NBC report. Her parents had emigrated from Russia to give Maria wider tennis opportunities, ESPN.com reported.

Anisimova played in the French Open in 2017, getting knocked out in the first round. She played in the U.S. Open last summer, again getting knocked out in the first round.

This year, she reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before losing.

NBC reported she is the youngest woman to reach the French Open semifinals since Nicole Vaidisova, who was also 17, in 2006, and is the youngest American since Venus Williams in 1997 to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. Venus Williams was 17 years and two months at the 1997 U.S. Open, the NBC report said.

The semifinal is scheduled for 5 a.m. and NBC says its TV coverage is available at NBCSports.com/live.

See highlights from Anisimova's upset of Halep below:

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