Iga Swiatek breezed into her first Wimbledon final on Thursday but hopes of a dream match-up with Aryna Sabalenka were dashed when the top seed was stunned by Amanda Anisimova.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, not previously known for her prowess on grass, demolished former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-0 in just 71 minutes on Centre Court.
“Honestly, I never even dreamed that it’s going to be possible for me to play in the final,” said the 24-year-old eighth seed.
“So I’m just super-excited and proud of myself and, I don’t know, tennis keeps surprising me.
“I thought I had experienced everything on the court but I didn’t experience playing well on grass, so that’s the first time. I’m super excited and just enjoying it.”
In baking conditions, Swiatek caught her Swiss opponent cold, racing into a 3-0 lead, and never relinquished her grip against her 35th-ranked opponent.
Bencic, who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, at least got on the board in the first set, but in the second set the rampant Swiatek went up another gear and her opponent had no answers.
“Today was just a different level from Iga. She played amazing and I didn’t feel like she let me in the match for one second,” Bencic said.
“There’s nothing I really regret. In the end, she was just too good, and I was a step too short.”
Swiatek has largely gone under the radar at this year’s Wimbledon, dropping just one set while every seed above her has been eliminated.
Four of her five major wins have come on the clay of the French Open, with her previous best performance at Wimbledon a run to the quarter-finals in 2023.
She made her first grass-court final at Bad Homburg just two weeks ago and is now into her second final on the surface.
Swiatek has won all five of her Grand Slam finals, but standing in the way of a sixth major title is Anisimova in their first professional meeting.
Anisimova, the American 13th seed, shattered Sabalenka’s Wimbledon title bid with a tense 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
World number one Sabalenka had reached the previous three Grand Slam finals but came up short against Anisimova, who matched her blow for blow in a bruising encounter lasting just over two hour and a half hours.
“This doesn’t feel real right now, honestly,” said Anisimova. “Aryna is such a tough competitor and I was absolutely dying out there. I don’t know how I pulled it out.
“We’ve had so many tough battles and to come out on top and be in the final of Wimbledon is incredible.”
The 23-year-old, who now has an impressive 6-3 winning record against Sabalenka, won the first set but the Belarusian hit back to level.
Anisimova was hailed as a teenage sensation after reaching the 2019 French Open semi-finals aged just 17.
But in 2023 she took an eight-month break from the court for mental health reasons, tumbling out the top 400.
This time last year, she was on the comeback trail but was ranked too low to get into the Wimbledon main draw and fell in qualifying.
On Thursday she became only the second player in the Open era to reach a women’s final at a Grand Slam after losing in qualifying at the previous year’s event.
“If you told me I would be in the final of Wimbledon, I would not believe you. It’s indescribable to be honest,” she said.
She is guaranteed to make her top-10 debut on Monday.
Defeat was a bitter blow for Sabalenka, who has still never been beyond the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
The 27-year-old won last year’s US Open to collect her third major, but suffered agonising defeats in the finals of this year’s Australian and French Opens.
“Losing sucks,” she said. “You feel like you are getting close to your dream and then this is the end. You always feel like you want to die and not exist any more.”
“But then you sit there a little bit and think about what you could have done differently.”
AFP
AFP
