LONDON — Iga Swiatek took another stride towards tennis greatness by ruthlessly tearing apart American 13^th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 and lifting her first Wimbledon trophy on Saturday.

The big occasion turned into a nightmare for Anisimova who became the first woman to lose a Wimbledon final by that painful scoreline since 1911 and the first to do so at any major since Steffi Graf routed Natasha Zvereva at the 1988 French Open.

Already a US Open champion and a four-times French Open winner, Swiatek’s demolition job at the All England Club meant that she became the youngest woman since a 20-year-old Serena Williams in 2002 to lift major titles on all three surfaces.

Her superb display on the sun-drenched lawns of London also ensured that she emerged as the first player since Monica Seles in 1992 to win her first six major finals.

“It’s something that is just surreal. I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself,” Swiatek told reporters after hoisting the gilded Venus Rosewater Dish.

“I’m really happy with the whole process, how it looked like from the first day we stepped on a grasscourt. Yeah, I feel like we did everything for it to go in that direction without expecting it, just working really hard.

“It means a lot, and it gives me a lot of experience. Yeah, I don’t even know. I’m just happy.”

Swiatek’s triumph ended a barren 13-month run for the Polish 24-year-old, who served a short suspension late last year after an inadvertent doping violation linked to contaminated sleep medication melatonin.

“I want to thank my coach (Wim Fissette). With the ups and downs now, we showed everybody it’s working,” Swiatek added.

SCORCHING START
On another warm afternoon on Centre Court, Swiatek got off to a scorching start by breaking a nervous Anisimova three times en route to dishing out the first bagel, prompting some spectators to get behind the shell-shocked American.

A frustrated Anisimova shrieked and desperately looked to her team in the stands for any kind of guidance after conceding yet another break point early in the second set and it was not long before her machine-like opponent pulled away further.

Anisimova continued to disappointingly crack under pressure, before Swiatek completed the brutal mauling in 57 minutes with a backhand winner on her second match point to become the first Wimbledon champion from Poland.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk celebrated with a picture of himself watching a post-match interview while holding a bowl of pasta and strawberries, Swiatek’s cheat meal at Wimbledon, while President Andrzej Duda was effusive in his praise.

“Iga! Today, on the grasscourts of Wimbledon, you wrote history — not only for Polish sport, but also for Polish pride. On behalf of the Republic of Poland — thank you,” Duda wrote.

Victory took Swiatek to 100 wins from 120 matches at the majors, making her the quickest to get to there since Williams in 2004, and denied Anisimova the chance to become the first American to win the title since her compatriot in 2016.

Swiatek jumped for joy on court before running towards her team in the stands to celebrate her triumph. The Friends fan was equally delighted to receive a congratulatory hug from American actress Courteney Cox, who was among the spectators.

All this while, Anisimova was left to wonder what could have been as she sat in her seat, before the tears began to flow during her on-court interview.

Few would have envisioned the American to hit the heights she did in the last fortnight after she fell outside the top 400 following her mental health break two years ago.

“I didn’t have enough today,” said Anisimova, who began the tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Yulia Putintseva but admitted to running out of gas in the final.

“I’m going to keep putting in the work, and I always believe in myself. I hope to be back again one day.”

It was bitter disappointment for US fans hoping for an “American Slam” this year after Madison Keys won the Australian Open at the start of the year and Coco Gauff triumphed at the French Open last month. — Reuters

LONDON — Fifth seeds Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool capped their dream summer with the Wimbledon crown and first Grand Slam title as a pair when the British team downed Rinky Hijikata and David Pel 6-2, 7-6(3) in the men’s doubles final on Saturday.

Queen’s Club and Eastbourne champions Cash and Glasspool became the first all-British pairing to win the All England Club trophy since 1936, when Pat Hughes and Raymond Tuckey defeated their compatriots Charles Hare and Frank Wilde in the final.

“When you say it, it sounds incredible,” said Glasspool.

“We’ve had a Brit win it last year (Henry Patten), the year before that (Neal Skupski) so I didn’t think too much of it, but now we needed to give you two so we did our best.”

The local favorites shot out of the blocks after an early break thanks to a poor service game from Pel and raced through the opening set with minimum fuss, leaving fans buzzing on a sun-drenched Centre Court.

The Australian-Dutch duo of Hijikata and Pel saved a break point at the start of the second set and applied pressure in the fourth game but their opponents were equal to the task and took a step towards the title when they went 4-2 up.

Hijikata and Pel, who entered the tournament as alternates and survived match points in their first two rounds, drew level after eight games before Cash and Glasspool moved up a gear in the tiebreak to prevail and spark huge celebrations.

The runners-up cut cheerful figures despite the defeat.

“We didn’t even meet before the tournament,” the 34-year-old Pel said. “I mean, it was our first time speaking on the day the tournament started.”

Hijikata, who won the 2023 Australian Open title with Jason Kubler, called his All England Club adventure a “crazy ride.”

“It’s been so much fun playing with David,” Hijikata said. — Reuters