For Iga Swiatek, an undreamt dream comes true in a historic 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon win; for Amanda Anisimova, a nightmare to forget

For only the second time in the Open Era, and first time at Wimbledon, a women’s singles final ended 6-0 6-0. If anyone was going to achieve the feat, it was destined to be Iga Swiatek, who has a habit of winning sets 6-0 or 6-1: a bagel or a breadstick, as it is known in tennis, is her bread and butter, prompting the coining of the term Iga’s Bakery.

But that she did it in her first Wimbledon final, on a surface where she has had little success in the years past, made it one of the most extraordinary results in recent years in women’s tennis. Amanda Anisimova simply didn’t have the answers against the relentless Polish superstar.

After 38 years, when Steffi Graf won the French Open in 1988 by the same scoreline, Swiatek punched her way into the record books. It wasn’t just a story of the two 6-0s she served out on Center Court, she also made it 6-0 in Grand Slam finals in her career, winning her sixth Major in her sixth title clash.

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If Anisimova had an actual nightmare before the final, one doubts it would have been worse than the reality that unfolded in front of her eyes. Right from the pre-match walk onto the Center Court, where Swiatek strode out with her headphones on (possibly listening to some AC/DC) much ahead of her American opponent, the former world No 1 looked dialled in.

If Anisimova had an actual nightmare before the final, one doubts it would have been worse than the reality that unfolded in front of her eyes. (AP Photo) If Anisimova had an actual nightmare before the final, one doubts it would have been worse than the reality that unfolded in front of her eyes. (AP Photo)

It might have been the first Wimbledon final for both players, but Swiatek is significantly more experienced at the big stages than Anisimova, while the American was playing a final of this magnitude for the first time in her career. It showed in the opening game right away as Anisimova appeared to be a bundle of nerves. Swiatek had three break points at 0-40 and converted the second to take the lead and never looked back. Anisimova managed to win just two points in the first two games.

The third game saw Anisimova struggle to close out from 40-15, letting Swiatek push her around the court, and dropping her serve for the second time after a double fault to trail 0-3. A brief window opened for the 13th seed to break in the fourth game at 15-30, but this time her groundstrokes let her down. On the other side of the net, there was no letdown of intensity from Swiatek as she crunched some deep forehands to draw out more errors from her opponent. The bad start for Anisimova quickly turned into her worst nightmare, getting broken at love to go down 0-5.

At 5-0, 30-0, Anisimova would have wondered if it wasn’t just meant to be, as Swiatek scrambled around to win a point she had no business winning. And it set up three set points that the Pole quickly converted. Anisimova won just 9 points in the first set. As per Opta, Swiatek became only the fourth player in the Open Era to win the opening set with a 6-0 scoreline at the women’s singles final in Wimbledon after Billie Jean King (1973, 1975), Chris Evert (1974) and Martina Navratilova (1983).

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Swiatek became only the fourth player in the Open Era to win the opening set with a 6-0 scoreline at the women’s singles final in Wimbledon after Billie Jean King (1973, 1975), Chris Evert (1974) and Martina Navratilova (1983). (AP Photo) Swiatek became only the fourth player in the Open Era to win the opening set with a 6-0 scoreline at the women’s singles final in Wimbledon after Billie Jean King (1973, 1975), Chris Evert (1974) and Martina Navratilova (1983). (AP Photo)

At the start of the second set, at 0-30, the crowd tried to rally behind Anisimova, and she responded with a roar too after making it 30-30. That was, however, quickly followed by two cries of frustration and a helpless stare towards the team in her box. Swiatek broke serve again to start the second set on the front foot. The crowd once again turned up the volume when Anisimova was down 15-30 on serve, and it went up a few decibels as the American crunched a forehand winner. Down a breakpoint again, she hit another winner to force deuce. But it was only a flash in the pan. There was to be no turnaround and Swiatek swiftly closed the match out and fell on her back on the hallowed grass.

For Anisimova, the result unfortunately bookended what was otherwise a memorable fortnight in London. Her tournament began with a 6-0 6-0 thrashing of Yulia Putintseva (who had coincidentally beaten Swiatek in last year’s quarterfinal) and ended in tears with the scoreline being reversed.

For Swiatek, Wimbledon 2025 will hold a special place in her career. After all, even she never quite believed she’d come this far on grass, having never reached the semifinal before. In her post-match speech, she was asked how long she had dreamt about holding the famous Venus Rosewater Dish. She smiled. “Honestly, I didn’t even dream, because it felt too far. I feel like I am an experienced player after having won Slams before, but I never expected this one.” Sometimes, when you put your head down (after listening to some rock music) and work hard, even undreamt dreams come true.

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