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Iga Swiatek breaks new ground, beats Belinda Bencic to reach maiden Wimbledon final
This will be Iga Swiatek's first appearance in a Slam final since lifting her fifth major at Roland Garros last year.
Iga Swiatek reached her maiden Wimbledon final on Thursday after making light work of Belinda Bencic in the women’s singles semifinal. The No. 8 seed won 6-2, 6-0 on Centre Court in just an hour and 11 minutes to set-up a title clash against Amanda Anisimova. The American had earlier beaten world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets to make her maiden Grand Slam final.
It was remarkably a lopsided clash on the Centre Court. The 24-year-old Pole caught Bencic cold as she raced away to a 3-0 lead in the first set. The Swiss, who returned to action in October, six months after giving birth to her daughter, Bella, found her footing, holding serve twice but Swiatek broke to love in the eighth game to take the match by the scruff of the neck. In the second set, Swiatek did not allow Bencic a single game.
This will be Swiatek's first appearance in a Slam final since lifting her fifth major at Roland Garros last year. She now stands a win away from claiming victory at her least successful Grand Slam. In fact, this was only the second time she made the second week in London, having previously reached the quarters in 2023. The Pole has been on an impressive run on the grass court, having reached her first final on the surface at Bad Homburg two weeks ago.
Heading into the summit clash, Swiatek will feel confident, having had a perfect 5-0 record in Grand Slam singles finals, including three titles in the French Open—2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024—and one at the US Open in 2022.
"Honestly, I never even dreamed that it's going to be possible for me to play in the final. So I'm just super-excited and proud of myself and I don't know, tennis keeps surprising me," said Swiatek.
“I thought I had lived through everything, even though I'm young, I thought I experienced everything on the court but I didn't experience playing well on grass, so that's the first time and I'm super, super excited and just enjoying it.”
