Iga Swiatek defeats Belinda Bencic to reach first Wimbledon final | Tennis News

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 a sizzling Swiatek brought her A-game to what turned into a one-sided contest.

Earlier, Anisimova’s victory extended her win-loss record over her equally big-hitting rival to 6-3 and kept alive American hopes of a third women’s Grand Slam champion this year after Madison Keys won the Australian Open and Coco Gauff the French Open.

At an oven-like Centre Court where the temperature climbed to 30 degrees Celsius, Sabalenka twice rushed to the aid of ill fans by supplying bottles of cold water and an ice pack, before she cracked under pressure from her opponent in the 10th game.

The 23-year-old Anisimova, playing in her first major semi-final since her 2019 French Open run as a gifted teenager, made her opponent sweat for every point and wrapped up the opening set when Sabalenka produced a double fault.

With her back against the wall, Sabalenka roared back like a tiger, the animal that has become her totem, and broke for a 4-3 lead en route to levelling up the match at one set apiece after some sloppy errors from 13th seed Anisimova’s racket.

Having matched each other’s decibel levels in a cacophony of grunting, the duo swapped breaks at the start of the decider but Anisimova pounced again when Sabalenka sent a shot long and went on to book a final.