By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON (Reuters) -Iga Swiatek took another stride towards tennis greatness as an all-court maestro after ruthlessly tearing apart American 13th 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 U.S. 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 she emerged as the first player since Monica Seles in 1992 to win all her first six major finals.
“It seems super surreal,” said Swiatek.
“I didn’t even dream (about this) because for me it was just like way too far. I feel like I’m already an experienced player, but I never really expected this one.
“I want to congratulate Amanda for an amazing two weeks. No matter what happened today, you should be proud of the work that you’re doing. I hope we’re going to play many more finals here and other tournaments, you have a game for that.”
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 right now, we showed everybody that it’s working,” Swiatek added.
SCORCHING START
On another warm afternoon on Centre Court, Swiatek got off to a scorching start breaking a nervous Anisimova three times en route to dishing out the first bagel, prompting some spectators to get behind the American in a bid to help prolong the clash.
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.
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, leaving Anisimova to wonder what could have been as she sat in her seat, before the tears began to flow during her on-court interview.
“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 U.S. 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.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and Martyn Herman in London; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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