
Iga Swiatek Pummels Belinda Bencic In Straight Sets To Reach 2025 Wimbledon Final
Swiatek wrapped up the semi-final in two straight sets against Bencic, within an hour and 15 minutes, to enter her first-ever Wimbledon final.
It was light work for Poland's World No. 8 Iga Swiatek, who blitzed Swiss star Belinda Bencic in straight sets with ease, to book her place in the 2025 Wimbledon final on Thursday.
The five-time Grand Slam winner dominated Bencic with effortless ease, putting her away in two easy sets of 6-2, 6-0 in the second semifinal of the Women's Singles.
In what was also Swiatek's first Wimbledon semi-final, the Pole looked in total control — compared to her rival Sabalenka in the first semifinal earlier today — dictating the pace of the match to clobber a hapless Bencic, who stood no chance today.
Swiatek blitzed through the first set 6-2 in no time, and made even lighter work of the Switzerland national in the next set, as she bullied Bencic into submission swiftly with a clean sweep to seal the second set as well in no time.
Swiatek will now face off against the USA's Amanda Anisimova — yet another first-time Wimbledon finalist — as both women will battle it out on Saturday in search of their first title here at the All England Club.
(more to follow…)
First Published:
July 10, 2025, 22:36 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Sevastova shocks fourth-ranked Pegula to book date with Osaka
Anastasija Sevastova stunned two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 on Friday to reach the fourth round of the WTA Canadian Open, where she will face Naomi Osaka. HT Image Sevastova, the world number 386 from Latvia, snapped fourth-ranked Pegula's 11-match WTA Canada win streak, the longest since Serena Williams reeled off 14 consecutive wins in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Sevastova, 35 won the most recent of her four career WTA titles at the 2019 Baltic Open in her homeland. But she will try to extend her Montreal run in a round of 16 meeting with Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion from Japan who ousted another Latvian, 22nd seed Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2, 6-4. Pegula, last year's US Open runner-up in her best Slam showing, was the first woman to win back to back Canadian Open titles since Martina Hingis in 1999-2000. Osaka, twice a winner at both the US and Australian Opens, is one match away from her first quarter-final run at either a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 event since she returned from maternity leave at the start of 2024. Sevastova, who returned from her own maternity leave in February 2024, collected her first victory over a top-five opponent since beating Czech Karolina Pliskova in 2017. Pegula broke to open the match and again at love to claim the first set when Sevastova sent a forehand long. A forehand winner earned Sevastova a break for a 5-4 lead in the second set and she denied Pegula on three break chances before holding in the final game to force a third set. Pegula sent a down-the-line forehand wide to surrender a break and a 2-1 lead to Sevastova, who broke again to grab a 4-1 advantage when Pegula swatted a forehand long. Sevastova held to 5-1 and broke again on a forehand winner to end the match after one hour and 41 minutes. World number 49 Osaka broke on a double fault to capture the first set in 30 minutes. In the second set, Ostapenko netted a forehand to hand Osaka a break for a 3-1 lead but rallied and broke back in the next game on a forehand crosscourt winner. Osaka broke again for a 4-2 lead when Ostapenko netted a forehand and Osaka served for the match leading 5-3, but Ostapenko saved a match point on a forehand crosscourt winner and broke when Osaka sent a forehand beyond the baseline. The Japanese star responded by breaking Ostapenko at love in the final game, the Latvian netting a backhand to conclude matters after 72 minutes. "Granted, she broke me a couple times, but she's a really good returner, so I can't take that personally," Osaka said. "I went in there knowing she's a great player and if I give her a chance she's going to hit a winner on me, so I just tried to keep my pace and stay as solid as I could." Osaka improved to 3-0 lifetime against Ostapenko, having also beaten her at the 2016 French Open and last year's US Open in the first round without dropping a set. Also advancing was Danish 16th seed Clara Tauson, who dispatched Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3, 6-0. Later matches include Polish second seed Iga Swiatek against Germany's Eva Lys, with the winner advancing to face Tauson. Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner, takes on US fifth seed Amanda Anisimova. js/bb


The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Ankur Bhattacharjee, the table tennis prodigy with shades of Virat Kohli and Truls Moregard
His aggression at the table evokes visions of Virat Kohli. So do more than the dozen tattoos he sports. His unconventional technique reminds you of Truls Moregard, the Swede who stormed into the men's singles final at the Paris Olympics. And he worships Grand Slam winner Zhang Jike. Creating a stir But, amidst all this, there are a few who wonder whether he can translate his exploits at the junior level to the open category. The house is definitely divided on how to bill Ankur Bhattacharjee, the teenager from Kolkata who has created a stir in the world of table tennis. More than his consistent top-five Under-19 World ranking, it's his uncanny ability to force formidable opponents onto the back foot that has catapulted him to the top of 'the next big thing' ladder in Indian table tennis. The men's game in the country finds itself at a crossroads. A. Sharath Kamal — the flagbearer for two decades — has hung up his boots. Harmeet Desai and G. Sathiyan are in the latter half of their careers. Manush Shah and Manav Thakkar, the spectacled duo, have been close to cementing themselves at the top of the Indian charts. ALSO READ | Divya, the girl who could become chess queen Against this backdrop, Ankur's rise from sapling to slowly spreading banyan offers hope. His achievements at 18 have rarely been matched even by the best at this age. Unbeaten in age-group categories on the domestic circuit for three years, he has already tasted success in Senior National Ranking events. He broke into the national squad for the World Championships earlier this year. On the world circuit, Ankur — he is coached by father Anshuman; mother Kuntali is also a former paddler — is placed at No. 3. He has not left the top-10 since February 2025. Despite Ankur having excelled at various levels, many believe he is far from being the finished product. One of them is Jorg Bitzigeio, the German coach with whom Ankur spent three weeks training earlier this year. Much of the scepticism has to do with the Indian's maverick technique. While table tennis is a forehand-dominant sport, with the backhand playing the supporting role, Ankur is an exception. He covers most of the table with his backhand, producing both top-spin and rocket winners that breach even the best defence. His wrong-footed stance leaves his extreme forehand corner vulnerable, but he compensates with his ability to surprise opponents. He uses the jab effectively, imparts side-spin from various angles and is super-agile, reaching virtually every possible ball. The combination makes Ankur an effective, watchable proposition. This was on display time and again during Ultimate Table Tennis' sixth edition, where he justified the faith shown in him by his home franchise Kolkata ThunderBlades. For the second year in succession, he was among the leading Indians, accounting for fancied opponents. As a result, while Indian table tennis is divided over Ankur's ability and his backhand-oriented technique, he isn't rattled by it .'Since 2017, I have been hearing that you can't have your backhand as your main weapon. First of all, I don't think of myself as a backhand-only player. And I have been working on my game over the last two years,' Ankur told The Hindu during UTT. 'No player is perfect and everyone has a stronger flank. There is no harm in having your backhand as your strong suit, but I am working on my overall technique anyway.' The right mix For the last two years, Ankur and Anshuman have been focusing on improving his efficiency in the forehand corner without sacrificing the backhand as his USP. It's his ability to execute unimaginable backhand strokes that has drawn comparisons with Moregard. 'I have heard this a lot — rather overheard it — that he can be India's Truls, but I know I have a long way to go. Playing the men's World Championships is just the start.' Had it not been for a parental push, though, Ankur could well have followed in the footsteps of his sporting idol — Kohli. Sensing that cricket is an expensive sport even for beginners, his paddler parents directed him to a table. In less than two years after first gripping a racquet, Ankur became India No. 2 in the cadet category. There has been no looking back. Ankur's day in Kolkata, when he is not travelling the world, is consumed with table tennis. ALSO READ | Nikhat Zareen reiterates 'hunger to win medals' ahead of World Boxing Championships 'The day starts with fitness training from 8 to 10 a.m. Then a half-hour break. From 10.30 to 3 o'clock, I practise, and again in the evening from 6 to 9, I am back at the table,' he says. Mental training? 'Nothing formal yet, but I have found my own little techniques that help me.' One recent method is listening to the Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional hymn. Early in 2025, he was feeling low at the start of a WTT event in Cappadocia, Turkey. 'I wasn't playing well. Before the first match over there, I listened to it by accident and won. 'I kept on playing it before every match that week and went on to win the U-19 title, beating Benyamin Faraji [a top junior], who had entered the tournament on a high, beating a men's top-30 player in the earlier week. Since then, I play Hanuman Chalisa before every match.' It doesn't take much time to figure out that Ankur is a religious youngster. After all, his first tattoo was a depiction of 'Lord Shiva, since I am a Shiv-bhakt'. 'They have started calling me a Bengal tiger, so I recently got a tiger tattooed as well,' he says, with a sheepish smile. God-fearing and soft-spoken in general, he turns into a livewire at the table, even rubbing his opponents the wrong way. 'Being aggressive comes naturally to me. In fact, it spurs me on. Sometimes I need that adrenaline rush, so I don't mind being ultra-aggressive,' Ankur says. Perhaps it's a trait he has imbibed from Kohli. He can't choose among Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Zhang, should he be given the opportunity to meet one. 'I am in awe of all of them. When I am not playing table tennis, I am either watching cricket or a Zhang Jike match,' he says. During the IPL, when Punjab Kings checked into the same hotel as the UTT entourage, Ankur had hoped for Royal Challengers Bengaluru to join them in the final. But Kohli & Co. were in another hotel and Ankur's demanding schedule meant he could neither seek an audience with his hero nor watch him in action. Keeping it simple But he knows he has plenty of time to fulfil his wish-list of meeting the trio. And he realises that rather than trying to make it happen — or spell out his aspirations of winning an Olympic or a Commonwealth medal — he wants to keep it simple. 'All I need to do is to keep improving and working harder with every passing day,' he says. 'If I can do that, I know I will achieve much more than what I have. The goals can keep getting revised, I am only starting now. There's a long way to go.'


NDTV
3 hours ago
- NDTV
Naomi Osaka Ousts Jelena Ostapenko To Reach WTA 4th Round At Canada
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka advanced to the fourth round of the WTA Canadian Open on Friday by dominating 22nd-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-4. The 27-year-old Japanese star, twice a winner at the US and Australian Opens, will meet either two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula, the US third seed, or Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in Montreal's round of 16. Osaka is one match away from making her first quarter-final run at a Grand Slam or WTA 1000 event since she returned from maternity leave at the start of 2024. World number 49 Osaka broke on a double fault to capture the first set in 30 minutes. In the second set, Ostapenko netted a forehand to hand Osaka a break for a 3-1 lead but rallied and broke back in the next game on a forehand crosscourt winner. Osaka broke again for a 4-2 lead when Ostapenko netted a forehand and Osaka served for the match leading 5-3, but Ostapenko saved a match point on a forehand crosscourt winner and broke when Osaka sent a forehand beyond the baseline. The Japanese star responded by breaking Ostapenko at love in the final game, the Latvian netting a backhand to conclude matters after 72 minutes. Osaka improved to 3-0 lifetime against the Latvian, having also beaten her at the 2016 French Open and last year's US Open in the first round without dropping a set. Also advancing was Danish 16th seed Clara Tauson, who dispatched Ukraine's Yuliia Starodubtseva 6-3, 6-0. Later matches include Polish second seed Iga Swiatek against Germany's Eva Lys, with the winner advancing to face Tauson. Britain's Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open winner, takes on US fifth seed Amanda Anisimova.