Wimbledon, Day 8: Alex de Minaur v Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner v Dimitrov, Swiatek v Tauson
The clash will kick off a big day at the All England Club, as Djokovic and world number one Jannik Sinner face their stiffest tests of the tournament as they aim to take another step towards a blockbuster semi-final face-off.
Djokovic was in supreme form as he demolished compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic 6-3, 6-0, 6-4, but the seven-time champion is wary of the threat that lies ahead of him.
De Minaur was forced to pull out of a quarter-final meeting at Wimbledon with the Serb last year due to injury but gets another shot at glory against one of the sport's all-time greats.
A two-time winner of grass court titles, the world number 11 has dropped just one set on his way to the last 16.
'He's playing the tennis of his life. He's definitely knocking on the door of the final stages of Grand Slams,' said Djokovic.
'You're not super excited to play Alex de Minaur on grass, that's for sure, because he's so quick and he's a complete player.'
Sinner does not have the Wimbledon track record of Djokovic or Alcaraz, but the Italian has been the most dominant player in the men's draw in the opening week.
The US Open and Australian Open champion has matched the men's Open Era record at Wimbledon for fewest games lost - 17 - in reaching the fourth round, set by Jan Kodes in 1972.
Sinner is also yet to lose his serve this year at the All England Club, not that his next opponent appears daunted by that prospect.
'We're in the second week of Wimbledon. Let's have fun,' said 34-year-old Grigor Dimitrov.
The Bulgarian appeared destined to be a future Wimbledon champion when he made the semi-finals in 2014, but has never progressed beyond the fourth round since.
Meanwhile, a rare defeat at the French Open has helped Iga Swiatek finally feel at home on the grass as the former world number one eyes just a second Wimbledon quarter-final.
Swiatek reached her first grass-court final in Bad Homburg last week, after which she said there is 'some hope' for her on the surface.
'This year on grass I had some moments where I just felt comfortable and I didn't have to think much. It was just pretty smooth.'
A flurry of early exits for all of the top six seeds other than Sabalenka also means Swiatek could make the final without having to play another top-10 player.
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Daily Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Daily Telegraph
Iga Swiatek wins Wimbledon final in 57-minute humiliation of Anisimova
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News. Iga Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the most one-sided women's Wimbledon final for 114 years to win her sixth Grand Slam title. The Polish eighth seed was in charge from the first point and wrapped up victory in just 57 minutes in a brutal display of precision hitting on Centre Court. It is the first time a woman has won a final at Wimbledon without dropping a game since 1911, when Britain's Dorothea Lambert Chambers triumphed by the same scoreline. And Swiatek, 24, is just the second player in the Open era to win a major without losing a game in the final since Steffi Graf humbled Natalia Zvereva at the 1988 French Open. 'It seems super surreal,' said Swiatek, who is the first Wimbledon singles champion from Poland and has now won majors on all surfaces. Iga Swiatek of Poland kisses the Ladies Singles Trophy following her victory against Amanda Anisimova to win this year's Wimbledon title. Picture: Getty 'I didn't even dream, for me it was way too far. I feel like I am already an experienced player after winning the Slams before but I never expected this one. 'This year I really, really enjoyed it and feel I improved my form here. 'I am always going to remember the opening of champagne bottles between serves. It is a sound that will keep me awake at night.' Swiatek lost just one set during the entire tournament as she won her first trophy on grass, two weeks after reaching the final of the grass-court event at Bad Homburg. US 13th seed Anisimova was expected to prove a stern test after ousting world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, but Swiatek performed a demolition job. Anisimova made a nervous start in hot conditions on Centre Court, with Catherine, Princess of Wales, watching from the Royal Box. She was broken in the first game, soon slipping 2-0 behind and the signs looked ominous. The American appeared to have found her feet in her next service game but the merciless Swiatek refused to give ground and recovered to move 3-0 ahead when Anisimova double-faulted. At 4-0 down Anisimova was facing a first-set wipe-out but she was powerless to halt the rampant Swiatek, who sealed the opener 6-0 in just 25 minutes. Amanda Anisimova was trounced in just 57 minutes. Picture: Getty The American won just six points on her serve in the first set and committed 14 unforced errors. An increasingly desperate Anisimova could not stem the tide in the second set, double-faulting again in the third game to give her opponent game point and then netting a backhand. The crowd got behind her but to no avail as Swiatek kept up her level, serving out to win and celebrating before consoling her devastated opponent. Anisimova made 28 unforced errors in the 12 games. Swiatek is Wimbledon's eighth consecutive first-time women's champion since Serena Williams won her seventh and final title at the All England Club in 2016. She has won all six major finals in which she has competed. Swiatek, who now has 100 career Grand Slam match wins, has won the French Open four times and also the US Open, in 2022. Her previous best performance at Wimbledon was a run to the quarter-finals in 2023. The distraught Anisimova left court briefly before returning for the trophy presentation. The American, who lost in qualifying last year, broke down in tears again during her speech on court, calling Swiatek an 'incredible player'. 'I know I didn't have enough today but I'll keep putting in the work,' she said. 'I keep believing in myself and I hope to be back here one day. Thank you everyone.' Originally published as Wimbeldon women's final: Iga Swiatek stuns with 57-minute humiliation of Amanda Anisimova
7NEWS
3 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Iga Swiatek wins historic Wimbledon final as Amanda Anisimova destroyed without winning a game
Iga Swiatek has cemented her place as an all-time great of women's tennis with her unprecedented, merciless 6-0, 6-0 destruction of Amanda Anisimova in a brutal Wimbledon Centre Court final wipe-out. In blazing sunshine on the Centre Court, Polish great Swiatek made a nonsense of all her previous struggles on grass-courts as she swept to a majestic victory for a sixth grand slam triumph on Saturday in less than an hour. The 'double-bagel' triumph, which lasted just 57 minutes, had never happened in a Wimbledon final in the Open era. The last time it occurred at SW19 was 114 years ago in 1911, when Dorothea Lambert Chambers beat Dora Boothby in an all-British final, while the only modern day equivalent was the 1988 French Open final when Steffi Graf routed Natasha Zvereva. It ensured that at 24, Swiatek becomes the youngest woman since Serena Williams to win majors on all three surfaces after her four French Open titles on clay and her 2022 US Open win. And it prompted her to have a post-title swipe at her critics who've tried to unpick why she hadn't won a title for over a year. 'For sure, the past months, how the media sometimes describe me — and I've got to say, unfortunately, Polish media — how they treated me and my team, it wasn't really pleasant,' said Swiatek, who had served a one-month doping ban at the end of last season after taking contaminated medication. 'I hope they will just leave me alone and let me do my job because obviously you can see that we know what we are doing, and I have the best people around me. 'I have already proved a lot. I know people want more and more — but it's my own process and my own life and my own career.' Presented with the Venus Rosewater Dish by Kate, the Princess of Wales, Swiatek had delivered a right royal performance, exhibiting machine-like quality with her groundstrokes as Anisimova, the American 13th seed, never recovered from getting broken to 15 in the opening service game. 'I think everyone's in a state of shock at what's happened,' said three-time Wimbledon champ John McEnroe, echoing everyone's feelings from the commentary box. 'Swiatek played someone who absolutely froze. And it was so hard to watch.' Inevitably, the tears came for Animisova, whose comeback had been one of the stories of the championship, with the former teenage prodigy having stepped away from tennis for eight months in 2023 to prioritise her mental health. Much was expected after the way she'd beaten world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semis, but she was the first to admit her failings after coughing up 28 mistakes in just a dozen games. 'I was a bit frozen there, with my nerves. Maybe the last two weeks I got a bit tired or something,' said the 23-year-old, who skipped practice on Friday because of fatigue and felt pain in her right shoulder while warming up before the match. 'I ran out of gas today and I wish I could have put on a better performance for you,' she told the crowd after paying a tearful tribute to her mum. Nothing, though, could be taken away from Swiatek. She's the eighth consecutive first-time Wimbledon champion, but her's is a name that truly belongs in the event's hall of fame after she'd never previously got beyond the quarter-finals. The first Polish winner at Wimbledon in 148 years had spent 125 weeks as the world No.1 between 2022 and 2024 but had slumped to a No.8 seeding after her win famine. Now she's back where she belongs.
ABC News
5 hours ago
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Amanda Anisimova admits 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final loss to Iga Świątek is 'tough to digest'
There were two so-called 'double bagels' — the term used to describe a match finishing with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline — at this year's Wimbledon. American Amanda Anisimova starred in both. The first one launched the 23-year-old on the path to her first major singles final as she thrashed Yulia Putintseva in the opening round. Sadly for Anisimova, she was on the receiving end of the second and it came at the worst-possible time. In front of a packed Centre Court crowd and millions of television viewers in the final, her hopes of winning the title evaporated in 57 cruel minutes as she was put through the wringer by Poland's Iga Świątek. The only other occasion a Wimbledon singles final was decided by a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline was in 1911 when Dorothea Lambert Chambers beat fellow British player Dora Boothby. It had happened only once at any of the other major finals, in 1988 when Steffi Graf demolished Natasha Zvereva in 34 minutes at the French Open. At least 13th seed Anisimova almost stretched it to an hour. It is customary at the majors for the runner-up to say a few words before the champion following the final. Anisimova probably wished Centre Court would open up and swallow her as she answered questions from former British player Annabel Croft, managing to hold herself together enough to say a few coherent words through the tears. Later, in the relative sanctuary of the media conference room, she was reflective as she spoke of how she had been frozen by nerves in the biggest match of her career. "It was tough to digest," Anisimova said. "It's not how I would have wanted my first grand slam final to go. I think I was in shock afterwards. "It's not an easy thing to go through, losing zero and zero." A sense of perspective is perhaps easier for a player who was marked out as a future major champion as a teenager but who needed to step away from the game for eight months in 2023 as she struggled with burnout and mental health issues. She did not even feature in the Wimbledon main draw last year, losing in the third round of qualifying when she was ranked 189th in the world. So despite how the final panned out, Anisimova preferred to take the positives from a run that included a scintillating semifinal victory against world number one Aryna Sabalenka. "I feel like the last two weeks, if anything, what I've learned it was you're never going to be perfect, and every match is different," Anisimova said. "My fighting spirit has gotten me to the final of today. It wasn't me playing perfect in a way. There were matches where I struggled and I wasn't playing to my full potential. "I think me just staying focused and fighting my way through certain moments and lifting myself up and trying to not get negative on myself was the most important thing. "I think that's really what got me to the final." Reuters
