Iga Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the most one-sided women’s Wimbledon final for 114 years to win her sixth Grand Slam title.
The Polish eighth seed was in charge from the first point and wrapped up victory in just 57 minutes in a brutal display of precision hitting on Centre Court.
It is the first time a woman has won a final at Wimbledon without dropping a game since 1911, when Britain’s Dorothea Lambert Chambers triumphed by the same scoreline.
Photo: AP
Swiatek, 24, is just the second player in the Open era to win a major without losing a game in the final since Steffi Graf humbled Natalia Zvereva at the 1988 French Open.
“It seems super surreal,” said Swiatek, who is the first Wimbledon singles champion from Poland and has now won majors on all surfaces.
“I didn’t even dream, for me it was way too far. I feel like I am already an experienced player after winning the Slams before, but I never expected this one,” she said. “This year, I really, really enjoyed it and feel I improved my form here.”
Photo: AP
“I am always going to remember the opening of champagne bottles between serves. It is a sound that will keep me awake at night,” she said.
Swiatek lost just one set during the entire tournament as she won her first trophy on grass, two weeks after reaching the final of the grass-court event at Bad Homburg.
US 13th seed Anisimova was expected to prove a stern test after ousting world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, but Swiatek performed a demolition job.
Photo: AFP
Anisimova made a nervous start in hot conditions on Centre Court, with the UK’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, watching from the Royal Box.
She was broken in the first game, soon slipping 2-0 behind, and the signs looked ominous.
The American appeared to have found her feet in her next service game, but the merciless Swiatek refused to give ground and recovered to move 3-0 ahead when Anisimova double-faulted.
At 4-0 down, Anisimova was facing a first-set wipe-out, but she was powerless to halt the rampant Swiatek, who sealed the opener 6-0 in just 25 minutes.
The American won just six points on her serve in the first set and committed 14 unforced errors.
An increasingly desperate Anisimova could not stem the tide in the second set, double-faulting again in the third game to give her opponent game point and then netting a backhand.
The crowd got behind her, but to no avail as Swiatek kept up her level, serving out to win and celebrating before consoling her devastated opponent.
Anisimova made 28 unforced errors in the 12 games.
Swiatek is Wimbledon’s eighth consecutive first-time women’s champion since Serena Williams won her seventh and final title at the All England Club in 2016.
She has won all six major finals in which she has competed.
Swiatek, who now has 100 career Grand Slam match wins, has won the French Open four times and the US Open once in 2022.
Her previous best performance at Wimbledon was a run to the quarter-finals in 2023.
The distraught Anisimova left the court briefly before returning for the trophy presentation.
The American, who lost in qualifying last year, broke down in tears during her speech on court, calling Swiatek an “incredible player.”
“I know I didn’t have enough today, but I’ll keep putting in the work,” she said. “I keep believing in myself, and I hope to be back here one day. Thank you, everyone.”
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told