Iga Swiatek banished the last of her grasscourt demons to blaze into her first Wimbledon final as the former world number one produced a performance of sizzling intensity to complete a quick-fire 6-2 6-0 demolition of Belinda Bencic on Thursday.
Swiatek, the claycourt specialist who had never gone past the quarter-finals at the All England Club before this year, was simply on another level to her Swiss opponent as she teed up a final against American Amanda Anisimova.
Anisimova had stunned world number one Aryna Sabalenka earlier in the day but a second upset never looked on the cards as five-times Grand Slam champion Swiatek quickly got her nose in front.
The 35th-ranked Bencic did not do a lot wrong but was broken twice in the first set and three times in the second as Swiatek brought her A-game to what turned into a one-sided contest.
“Honestly I never even dreamt that it was going to be possible for me to play in the final so I’m just super excited and just proud of myself,” a smiling Swiatek said.
“Tennis keeps surprising me, I thought I lived through everything even though I’m young. I thought I’d experienced everything on the court. I didn’t experience playing well on grass so that’s the first time and I’m super excited and enjoying it.”
Swiatek, a four-times French Open champion, has been honest about her struggles to come to terms with the demands of grasscourt tennis.
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Yet it seems she may have flicked a psychological switch this season with the 24-year-old’s confident Wimbledon displays coming on the back of a run to the final in the grasscourt warm-up event at Bad Homburg.
Against Bencic, Swiatek’s intensity levels were off the scale, her focus and sharpness of movement a sight to behold. Her every muscle fibre seemed to be twitching with eagerness to get the job done, while even her fist bumps were crisp and to the point.
The 28-year-old Bencic, who returned from a maternity break last October and started this year ranked 489, certainly did not hand victory to Swiatek.
She made fewer unforced errors than her fired-up opponent but when Swiatek is in this mood, she is very hard to beat.
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TERRIBLE NIGHTMARE
Bencic had said she uses the time before she drifts off to sleep to visualise her gameplan for her next match. If this was what she saw on Wednesday evening it must have been the precursor to a terrible nightmare.
Every part of Swiatek’s game was functioning at its peak – her serve was relentless, while she fired winners evenly off both flanks, hitting 26 in total.
Strolling on court with her usual playlist of AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses and Led Zeppelin blaring through her headphones, Swiatek soon had Bencic rocking.
A Bencic backhand that crept long offered the Pole her first break point and she immediately grasped the opportunity as she gobbled up a midcourt put-away.
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With the Swiss serving to stay in the first set at 5-2, Swiatek put her foot down again, racing to 0-40 and claiming the opener when an off-balance Bencic dumped a backhand into the net.
For a fleeting moment at the start of the second set, Bencic managed to create some pressure on the Swiatek serve, earning two break points.
Swiatek, however, saved them both and broke in the next game to leave Tokyo Olympic champion Bencic with a mountain to climb.
Swiatek sapped the last dregs of spirit from her opponent when she broke for a 4-0 lead with another punishing forehand return and was not in the mood to hang around.
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She went after the Swiss’s serve at the next opportunity, spurning her first match point before a backhand return winner wrapped up the contest.
