Clinical Swiatek poleaxes nervous Anisimova to win her first Wimbledon title

It was the Polish player’s sixth Major overall and first trophy of any kind since French Open 2024; Anisimova becomes the first woman to be double bageled in a Slam final after Natasha Zvereva at the hands of Steffi Graf at Roland-Garros 1988.

One of sport’s great adages goes like this: “You are only as good as your opponent allows you to be.”

On Saturday, American Amanda Anisimova learnt it the hard way as Iga Swiatek, in a remarkable display of big-match temperament and tactical nous, thrashed her 6-0, 6-0 to win a maiden Wimbledon women’s singles title.

It was the Pole’s sixth Major and first trophy of any kind since French Open 2024.

“Wimbledon always felt a little too far away, like out of reach,” the 24-year-old said. “I’ve won Slams before, yes, but this one? I never really expected.”

The All England Club had switched the day’s order and scheduled the men’s doubles final first on Centre Court to ensure that more people stayed for doubles and also to attract the “largest possible worldwide audience” for the singles fare.

Over in a jiffy

But what unfolded was the first double-bagel final in SW19 in over a century and a contest that lasted just 57 minutes, 26 less than the doubles clash. The previous double bagel in the title-round of a Slam was Steffi Graf’s over Natasha Zvereva at Roland-Garros in 1988.

Anisimova, who was in her maiden Major final, landed only 45% of her first serves and made a whopping 28 unforced errors. But to harp on her mistakes would be a disservice to Swiatek.

The World No. 4 hit with great depth and loaded her shots with so much top-spin that those present courtside could even feel the fizz. The work on the ball ensured that errors piled up for the World No. 12, and to the 23-year-old’s detriment she had no plan to counter it.

The crowd was clearly behind Anisimova, a fact evident from the moment the players stepped on to the lawns at 4 p.m. BST. But as the tie progressed, supporters were left to cheer unforced errors from Swiatek  and commit – rather reluctantly – the tennis-wise blasphemous act of clapping for double-faults.

Anisimova did come up with a few delectable winners, like the down-the-line backhand to get to 30-30 in the third game of the second set. But she followed it up with a double-fault, the kind of inconsistency that marred her afternoon.

Swiatek had more for her highlights reel – the cross-court backhand to break to 5-0, the backhand drop-volley to consolidate to 2-0 in the second set, the ace and the forehand to go 4-0 up and the superb backhand pass to break to 5-0.

It took until match-point for the longest rally of the fixture. It ended with a backhand winner that kissed the line. Swiatek dropped to the floor and her already-high stocks soared even more.