Swiatek thrashes Anisimova 6-0 6-0 to win Wimbledon title

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Iga’s Bakery has never been a pleasant place for her opponents – and now she’s expanded to the All England club.

Polish star Iga Swiatek’s habit of handing out bagels and breadsticks to her hapless rivals continued in Saturday’s final as she sealed her graduation from grasscourt novice to first-time Wimbledon champion with a 6-0, 6-0 demolition of American Amanda Anisimova.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek holds the trophy after beating Amanda Anisimova to win the women’s singles final.

Aussie’s unlikely run ends in doubles final

Rinky Hijikata was unable to double his grand slam title tally, but still described playing on Wimbledon’s centre court as a “dream come true”.

Hijikata and Dutch partner David Pel, alternates who had never spoken to each other before this tournament, started slowly in Saturday’s men’s doubles final, but threatened to extend the match to a deciding set before losing 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) to Brits Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash.

They are the first all-British pair to win the men’s doubles title since 1936, but it is the third straight Wimbledon where at least one Brit has featured in the winning team.

Hijikata, who also made the second round of the singles, was outstanding and arguably the best player on the court, particularly in the second set. But nerves appeared to get the better of Pel, who served six double faults and dropped serve three times.

Pel’s last double fault - which landed halfway up the net - handed Glasspool and Cash a crucial mini-break in the second-set tie-breaker, which gave them a 5-3 lead that they never relinquished.

It was still an incredible tournament for the Hijikata-Pel combination, who saved match points in their first- and second-round wins and dramatic semi-final, which they celebrated with rare gusto.

“It’s been a crazy ride,” Hijikata said.

“It’s been so much fun playing with David. He brought such a great energy on the court, and it’s a dream come true to play on centre court. I’m shattered, but it was a lot of fun.”

Hijikata won the 2023 Australian Open doubles title with fellow Australian Jason Kubler.

Swiatek’s dominant 57-minute rout delivered the first 6-0 opening set in a Wimbledon women’s singles final in 42 years, since Martina Navratilova beat another American, Andrea Jaeger, 6-0, 6-3 in 1983.

You have to go back to 1911 to find a double-bagel scoreline in a women’s final at the grasscourt major, when Dorothy Lambert Chambers did that against fellow Brit Dora Boothby to claim the fifth of her seven titles.

The last women’s singles grand slam final decided 6-0, 6-0 was Steffi Graf’s victory over Natasha Zvereva in barely half an hour at Roland-Garros in 1988.

Swiatek, who also conceded only two games in the semi-finals against Belinda Bencic, completed her extraordinary performance with a fittingly brilliant backhand winner that nipped the sideline as she dropped her racquet in disbelief and slumped to the court.

“It seems super surreal,” Swiatek said.

“Honestly, I didn’t even dream [this would happen as a child] because, for me, it was way too far. I feel like I’m already an experienced player after winning the slams before, but I never really expected this one.

Amanda Anisimova cries after losing the women’s singles final match.

“I want to thank my team – you believed in me more than I did, and I want to thank my coach [Wim Fissette], who joined this year. There’s been ups and downs, but we showed everyone it’s working. Also, for the team that’s been with me for many years – I would be nowhere without you.

“Having your trust and constant support; this is the best thing a player can have.”

In a cruel twist of fate, Anisimova – who was contesting her maiden grand slam final – won her first-round match 6-0, 6-0 over Yulia Putintseva.

The 23-year-old committed 28 unforced errors against Swiatek and hit only eight winners. She wiped tears away as she accepted her runners-up plate, then sobbed before her on-court interview, and again as she mentioned her mother, Olga, who flew in to London on the day of the final.

Iga Swiatek plays a forehand against Amanda Anisimova in the final.

“To my pretty small box over there … it’s been so unbelievable to experience this with you all. You guys were that extra motivation and inspiration I needed to keep pushing me forward,” Anisimova said.

“You always believed in me. My mum flew in this morning, and I definitely wouldn’t be standing here [without you]. My mum’s put in more work than I have. My mum is the most selfless person I know, and she’s done everything to get me to this point in my life.

“Thank you for being here and breaking the superstition of flying in. You’re definitely not why I lost today, so I’m happy I get to share this moment with you, and you get to be here and witness this in person.

“Lastly, I know I didn’t have enough today, but I’m going to keep doing the work, and I hope to be back here one day.”

It was a brutal afternoon for Anisimova, but a legacy-changing one for Swiatek, who had never been beyond the quarter-finals at SW19 before this fortnight. This is her sixth major title at 24 years of age, to go with her four at Roland-Garros and 2022 US Open triumph.

The Australian Open, where she has twice lost in the semi-finals, is the final frontier for the former world No.1.

Swiatek spoke during the tournament about how the Slazenger ball was finally “listening” to her in practice on the grass courts – and that has translated to the match court, where she dropped just one set en route to the title.

The 24-year-old had not enjoyed her usual level of dominance since her one-month ban expired in December for testing positive to banned substance trimetazidine. Swiatek successfully argued that the low traces of TMZ in her system owed to contamination of her melatonin medication, which she takes to ward off jet lag.

That she bounced back to her best at Wimbledon for her first title of the year is another remarkable part of this story.

Swiatek typically dominates the clay court season like few before her, but repeatedly fell short after reaching the latter stages as her ranking dropped to an unfamiliar No.8.

Her run to the Bad Homburg final the week before Wimbledon started seemed a significant breakthrough for her on grass, and so it proved, as her confidence and output improved the longer the fortnight went.

Swiatek will be back at No.3 on Monday and is poised to again challenge Aryna Sabalenka as the sport’s best women’s player.

Marc McGowan travelled to Wimbledon with the assistance of Tennis Australia.