The perfect ending: Swiatek fails to lose a game in Wimbledon final
Iga Swiatek is now a Wimbledon champion. The former World No. 1 stormed to her sixth career Grand Slam singles title -- and a first at the All England Club -- with a 6-0, 6-0 defeat of American Amanda Anisimova in Saturday's final -- making her a Grand Slam champion on all surfaces.
Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws
In a commanding 57 minutes -- and just the second 6-0, 6-0 Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era --- Swiatek swept to her first title since she lifted a fourth Roland Garros trophy last spring, and improved her record to 6-0 in major finals.
In addition to making her the first Wimbledon singles champion from Poland in the Open Era, the victory also marks Swiatek's 100th career Grand Slam match win. She now is 100-20 in Grand Slam main draws since her Grand Slam main-draw debut in 2019.
Swiatek, who hadn't reached a grass-court final in her career before the Bad Homburg Open in early June -- where she lost to Jessica Pegula -- said leaving SW19 with the Venus Rosewater Dish is "surreal."
"I'm just appreciating every minute. I'm just proud of myself because, yeah, who would have expected that?" she said after conquering the major played on the surface she long struggled to master. "For sure it's a lot, especially after a season with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of expectations from the outside that I didn't really match winning Wimbledon.
"I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself."
Swiatek stamped her authority on the match with the first 6-0 opening set in a women's singles final at Wimbledon since 1983 -- when Martina Navratilova defeated Andrea Jaeger 6-0, 6-3. Prior to that, the 1973-75 finals all saw 6-0 first sets -- including Billie Jean King's 6-0, 7-5 win over a then-18-year-old Chris Evert in 1973.
"I was in a fog," recalled Evert of the early stages of that final while commentating for ESPN. Anisimova hit 14 unforced errors in each set, and failed to hold serve despite holding four game points in the third game. It was the only game of the 12 in which she had a break or game point.
Anisimova found stronger strokes in the early stages of the second set -- including a 90-mph forehand winner to pull to 30-30 with Swiatek serving 6-0, 1-0. But it did not translate to the scoreboard, and Swiatek joined Stefanie Graf in an exclusive club of players to win a major final without losing a game. Graf defeated Natasha Zvereva by the same score in the final of Roland Garros in 1988.
Afterwards, Anisimova admitted to being "a bit frozen .. with my nerves" as the toll of the last two weeks accumulated.
"She came out playing very, very well. So all the credit to her. She was able to really play the game she wanted, I think," she said. "She definitely made it difficult for me. Yeah, she's an unbelievable player, as I've said many times. She deserves this win."
Despite the ending, Anisimova's effort at SW19 was overall a career-changing one: She scored her first-ever win over a World No. 1 against Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, and will crack the Top 10 for the first time in her career on Monday.
"It's not how I would have wanted my first Grand Slam final to go," Anisimova continued. "I think I was a little bit in shock after, as well. But I told myself, I'll definitely come out stronger after this. I mean, that's not an easy thing to go through, losing 0-0 in a Grand Slam final.
"If anything, I can look at it as a positive and something I can look at as motivation going forward."