Swiatek eases past Bencic into first career Wimbledon final

Iga Swiatek's career-best grass-court season has reached new heights: a trip to the Wimbledon final for the first time.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

No. 8 seed Swiatek of Poland breezed past 35th-ranked Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-0 in their final-four meeting on Centre Court on Thursday. In a clash between two first-time Wimbledon semifinalists, Swiatek needed just 1 hour and 12 minutes to triumph.

"For sure, I played great," Swiatek said afterwards. "I felt like I put pressure on Belinda from the beginning. I felt just good and in the zone. I was focused from the beginning till the end. So it was a really solid performance."

Anisimova awaits: Swiatek will now face No. 13 seed Amanda Anisimova of the United States for the Wimbledon ladies' singles title on Saturday. Stunningly, they have never faced each other on the pro tour. They met once as juniors in 2016, and Swiatek won.

"[Anisimova] must be playing great," Swiatek said. "She also had a great tournament before Wimbledon [runner-up showing at Queen's Club]. She knows how to play on grass. With her game style, the surface fits her. So it's going to be a challenge."

Another Slam final: Swiatek has not won a title since 2024 Roland Garros over a year ago, but she is now a victory away from returning to the winner's circle here on the grass of Wimbledon -- her least successful Grand Slam before this year.

After making three straight Roland Garros finals (and winning the title each time), Swiatek fell to Aryna Sabalenka in this year's Roland Garros semifinals to see her Paris winning streak end. But the Pole, who has spent 125 weeks as World No. 1, regrouped for the grass in emphatic fashion and has reaped the rewards.

Suddenly, five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek is posting outstanding results on turf this season. She made her first grass-court final at Bad Homburg two weeks ago, and is now into her second final on the surface -- at the grass-court major, no less.

Despite her previous misgivings on grass at tour level, Swiatek has to feel confident in a Grand Slam final on any surface. She is a perfect 5-0 in Grand Slam singles finals -- leading to four titles at Roland Garros (2020, 2022-24) and one at the 2022 US Open.

"Every Slam was totally different," Swiatek said. "It's hard to compare these journeys. But for sure, for now I've been enjoying just this new feeling of being a bit more comfortable on grass."

Tale of the match: 2021 Olympic champion Bencic came into the match on a mission, hoping to become the first mom to win the Wimbledon singles title in 45 years. After giving birth to daughter Bella last April, Bencic's return has been superb, and the former World No. 4 is projected to return to the Top 20 on Monday.

But Swiatek beat Bencic here at Wimbledon in 2023, saving match point in the process, and on Thursday, the Pole picked up pretty much where she left off. Swiatek's forehand was on fire and she cranked a winner from that wing to break for 2-0 and get herself off to the perfect start.

Swiatek was generally unstoppable in all aspects, as she chased down a drop shot and flicked back a drop-volley winner to reach triple set point. Everything was going Swiatek's way as she dinked a return winner on the sideline to clinch the one-set lead.

Bencic earned her only break points of the day in the opening game of the second set, but Swiatek refused to be broken and she kept her game-winning streak alive. Indeed, the Polish star never faltered, reeling off the last eight games to notch a comprehensive win.

Aggressive on return and playing first-strike tennis whenever she could, Swiatek had 26 winners to Bencic's 11. Another powerful service day saw Swiatek win 83 percent of her first-serve points -- and to top it all off, she was 6-for-6 when she ventured to the net.

"There's no place to overthink here [on grass]," Swiatek said. "You kind of have to follow your instincts. If that is going well and you can rely on them for sure if you feel comfortable, so this is kind of fun in some way, and different than on other surfaces where you have more time to build the rally or something.

"When you're playing well, it's easy to enjoy. But I would say this is the main difference."