LONDON: Iga Swiatek swept aside Belinda Bencic in just 71 minutes to move into her first final at Wimbledon on Thursday.
The sixth seed dominated the majority of her 6-2, 6-0, win over Switzerland’s Bencic, who knocked Mirra Adreeva out of the tournament yesterday. Swiatek’s latest victory in the most one-sided women’s semi-final match to take place at the tournament (in terms of games dropped) since 2017, when Garbine Muguruza also lost just two games against Magdalena Rybarikova. Her latest performance featured 26 winners against 13 unforced errors, and she won 83% of her first service points.
Meanwhile, Bencic was far from her best and appeared to be feeling the effects of her matches played earlier in the tournament. Heading into her clash with Swiatek, she had already spent 10 hours and 10 minutes on the court, which was more than any other semi-finalist this year. Despite her heavy defeat, she will return back into the top 20 next week after starting 2025 outside the top 400. Bencic returned to the Tour last November after giving birth to her first child.
“Honestly, I never dreamt that this was going to be possible for me to be in the (Wimbledon) final,” Swiatek said afterwards.
“I’m just super excited and proud of myself.
“Tennis keeps surprising me. I thought I had lived through everything, even though I’m young. I thought I experienced everything, but I didn’t experience playing well on grass, so this is the first time, and I’m super excited and enjoying it.”
Swiatek’s Wimbledon breakthrough comes during a season where she has so far won nine Tour-level matches on the grass. The most she has ever achieved within a year in her career. The former world No.1 is a junior champion of the Grand Slam, claiming the title seven years ago when she beat Emma Raducanu en route to the title.
The 24-year-old is now chasing after her first trophy of any kind since winning the 2024 French Open. It is only the second time she has reached a tournament final this year after Bad Homburg, which took place a week before Wimbledon.
“Every opponent is different, so every match I have to adjust my game,” she said of her run at SW19.
“I feel like I have improved my movement, and I am serving really well. I feel really confident, so I’m just going for it.”
Awaiting Swiatek in the final on Saturday will be Amanda Anisimova, who ousted Aryna Sabalenka in three sets. It will be the first Tour-level meeting between the two.
“We have played against each other as juniors. She can play amazing tennis and she loves fast surfaces because she has a fast game. You have to be ready for fast shots but I’m just going to focus on myself,” Swiatek said of playing Anisimova.
“I will just prepare for tomorrow as with every other match.”
Swiatek is the second Polish player to reach a Wimbledon final after Agnieszka Radwanska, who was runner-up in 2012.
