LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - A ⁠showdown between two American 20-somethings born to Russian immigrants turned into an almighty scrap ⁠at Wimbledon as Amanda Anisimova displayed her powers of resilience to subdue Sofia ‌Kenin 6-2 4-6 7-6(10-3) in the second round on Thursday.

A year after becoming the first player in more than a century to lose a Wimbledon final 6-0 6-0, the sixth seed looked like she was heading for another heartbreaking ​defeat at the hands of an opponent she had been ⁠expected to beat.

With Kenin now ranked ⁠105th in the world and a shadow of the player who triumphed at the Australian Open ⁠in ‌2020, Anisimova resembled a tortured soul as she struggled to stop the barrage of unforced errors that kept flying off her racket.

When she surrendered her serve en route ⁠to falling 3-1 behind in the deciding set, Anisimova resorted to ​the only thing that could ‌get her out of the rut - yelling out her frustrations.

That release allowed her to ⁠get her A-game ​back on track and after levelling for 3-3, she was once again laser focused and stormed through the tiebreak to seal victory when Kenin netted a service return.

"Some moments were really awful. I'm just happy ⁠to be through to the next round," said Anisimova, ​whose title dreams were almost dashed by the 46 unforced errors she produced during the two-hour duel.

The 20 aces she fired down did, however, go a considerable way towards limiting the damage done by ⁠her wayward shots.

"I never thought I'd say this but thank you to my serve. I'm not a good server at all but after today, I can say that I am," she added smiling.

"I'm really happy with my performance, especially with the end. Shout out to Sofia, she's such ​a good opponent, a real fighter.

"I was down and told ⁠myself to keep fighting. I really tried to bring myself back to the present moment. I try ​to remind myself - have fun, you're playing at Wimbledon. These ‌are the matches I train for, the tough ​ones, the fun ones."

She will next run into another American, 26th seed Madison Keys, for a place in the fourth round.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Clare Fallon)