July 12 (UPI) — Iga Swiatek pelted the perennial ryegrass, browned by weeks of tennis tussles, manipulating movements of Amanda Anisimova for a straight-sets demolition of the American on Saturday to capture her first Wimbledon title.
With her dominant performance, Swiatek became just the second women’s player in the Open Era — since 1968 — to win a Grand Slam 6-0, 6-0. The No. 4 player in the WTA rankings, who is set to move up to No. 3, needed just 57 minutes to dispatch her No. 12 foe.
“Honestly, I didn’t even dream of it because for me it was way too far,” Swiatek said on the ESPN broadcast. “I feel like I was already an experienced player after winning Grand Slams before, but I never really excepted this one.
“I want to thank my team because I feel like they believed in me more than I did.”
Swiatek improved to 6-0 in major finals and became the fastest woman to win 100 Grand Slam singles matches since Serena Williams in 2004. She now only needs an Australian Open title to complete a career Grand Slam.
The Polish tennis sensation, known as a clay-court specialist, won her final 20 games at the grass-court major, including her semifinal sweep of semifinal foe Belinda Bencic.
“She was playing a clay court, defensive game,” tennis great Chris Evert said on the ESPN broadcast.
Swiatek earned $4.1 million — in addition to the Venus Rosewater Dish. Anisimova, 23, earned a $2.1 million second-place prize. She also will move to No. 7 in the world.
“I know I didn’t have enough today, but I’m gonna keep putting in the work and always believing in myself,” said Anisimova, who appeared in her first Grand Slam final. “I hope to be back here again one day.”
Swiatek — the first Polish player to win Wimbledon — topped Anisimova 3-0 in aces, and 10-8 in winners, and totaled just 11 unforced errors compared to 28 for her foe. She broke all six of Anisimova’s serves. She did not face a single break point.
“It was all pretty simple, where I wanted to go on the court,” Swiatek said.
The former world No. 1 neutralized Anisimova’s typically aggressive game by keeping her scrambling on the base line. She often took aim at Anisimova’s right hip, attempting to trigger returns from the American’s forehand, which was wild throughout the match.
Swiatek took advantage of early nerves from Anisimova, who fired errant returns and piled up errors to drop her first three service games. Swiatek needed just 25 minutes to win the opening set. Anisimova totaled 14 unforced errors in the set, compared to Swiatek’s two.
Swiatek’s dominance continued to start the final set, as Anisimova struggled to find footing. She remained composed and accurate as Anisimova showed signs of obvious frustration, lunging left and right with awkward return attempts.
Another Anisimova failed forehand return gave Swiatek her fourth break point in the opening game. Anisimova lost her second service game of the set on her backhand.
Swiatek fired a 113-mph ace to set up championship point in the final game. She dotted the left sideline with a backhand winner, triggering a championship celebration on the Center Court lawn.
No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy will play No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the men’s singles final at 11 a.m. EDT Sunday in London. That match also will air on ESPN.
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