Swiatek routs Bencic to reach first Wimbledon final

Iga Swiatek routed former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-0 on Thursday to reach her first Wimbledon final, where she will face Amanda Anisimova.

The five-time Grand Slam champion, seeded eighth at the All England Club, dominated her Swiss opponent from the start, wrapping up victory in 71 minutes on Centre Court.

“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.”

On a baking Centre Court, the 24-year-old caught Bencic cold, racing into a 3-0 lead.

Bencic, ranked 35th in the world, found her footing, holding serve twice but Polish star Swiatek broke to love in the eighth game to take the match by the scruff of the neck.

Bencic, who returned to action in October, six months after giving birth to her daughter, Bella, was immediately under pressure in the second set as Swiatek broke for a 2-0 lead.

The rampant Swiatek did not allow Bencic a single game in a remarkably one-sided second set.

Despite her impressive form, Swiatek has largely gone under the radar at this year’s Wimbledon, dropping just one set so far while the top seven women’s seeds were all eliminated.

After slipping down the rankings, she is now back in the world’s top four having reached her first ever grass-court final at Bad Homburg last month.

Swiatek has won four French Open titles on clay, as well as the 2022 US Open on hard courts, but until this year she had never been beyond the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

She will face Anisimova for the first time in her career on Saturday after the American 13th seed beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach her first Wimbledon final.