Iga Swiatek makes triumphant return to hardcourts in Montreal

 

After Iga Swiatek swept to the Wimbledon title, she admitted the breakthrough was so far-fetched she never even dreamed of it happening.

“Because it seemed so far away,” Swiatek said afterward. “I feel like I am already an experienced player, having won Slams before, but I never expected to win this one.”

Now that she’s checked that elusive box, this question looms: Is there anything she can’t do?

The most recent confirmation that Swiatek is again in the midst of a dangerous groove came Wednesday afternoon in Montreal when she defeated qualifier Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-1 in a second-round match at the Omnium Banque Nationale.

Let the record show that when she won the opening four games, Swiatek ran her staggering total of consecutive games to 24. How is that possible? She won the last two games of the first set in the Wimbledon semifinal against Belinda Bencic before closing out the second set 6-0. And then threw down a perfect 6-0, 6-0 against Amanda Anisimova in the final.

Swiatek won her 63rd consecutive WTA Tour opening match, something that hasn’t happened since Monica Seles won 64 straight between 1990-96.

So, to review, when Guo broke her serve in the fifth game, Swiatek lost her first game in 20 days -- which, of course, included a seaside vacation. Next for the No. 2 seed is the winner of the later match between No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Eva Lys on Friday.

Guo, a 27-year-old from China, is a formidable doubles player, with two titles this year (Bad Homburg and Adelaide) with partner Alexandra Panova. Guo began the year at No. 538 in the rankings but managed to win two qualifying matches in Montreal.

Her 6-3, 6-3 first-round win over Yulia Putintseva
 was Guo’s first-career main-draw win at the WTA level. She was, predictably, no match for Swiatek.

Swiatek broke Guo’s serve six of eight times, improving the Hologic WTA Tour’s highest percentage of winning return games to 47 -- 102 of 221. Swiatek’s career record against players ranked outside the Top 200 is now 21-1.

Aryna Sabalenka has been the No. 1-ranked player for 41 consecutive weeks and counting. But the Wimbledon result suggested that Swiatek -- after a difficult year when she changed coaches and served a brief suspension -- is ready to challenge her again. Swiatek was No. 1 for 125 weeks, already the seventh highest total since the rankings were instituted 50 years ago.

At Wimbledon, Swiatek made a conscious effort to be more aggressive, pumping up her serve, taking more risks and flattening out her groundstrokes. Will that trend continue on hard courts?

Swiatek’s best effort in Canada came two years ago in the semifinals in Montreal. She lost there to eventual champion Jessica Pegula. The Canadian Open and Cincinnati are the only two WTA 1000s in which Swiatek has failed to reach the final.

Based on recent returns, that might be about to change.

wtatennis.com

Wimbledon Champion Iga Swiatek back at it (will never get tired of saying that). 

Bit rusty at times understandably, but once she got the hang of the lighter tennis balls it went pretty smoothly. 

May definitely take her another match to fully get used to the different conditions (not to mention the switch in surface). 

I could tell Iga was at times trying to figure out how hard to hit the ball and how hard to serve. 

But her return was absolutely on point!. 

So good to have her back and just enjoying herself out there again. 

Jazda!.

Iga Swiatek is the first player to score 30 sets 6-0/6-1 in 2025. That's now 4 consecutive seasons reaching 30+ for Iga. 

2025: 30  

2024: 42 

2023: 54

 2022: 42

115 - Only Serena Williams (130) has claimed 115 WTA-1000 main draw wins in fewer matches played than Iga Swiatek (142) since the format’s introduction in 2009. Running.

Iga Swiatek 2025 Wimbledon Redux

 

Iga Swiatek Wimbledon Champion a photo thread

 

Iga with the Wimbledon boys doubles champ a fellow Pole

Iga Swiatek & The Venus Rosewater Dish

 

Iga Swiatek & Jannik Sinner dance it up at Wimbledon Champions Dinner

 

Nothing to see here just 2 introverted dorks attempting to dance :D. I'm actually surprised at how well Jannik leads.

Iga Swiatek first Polish Wimbledon Champion!

Iga and Wim Fisette the grass whisperer :D 

Iga's name permanently etched into the Wimbledon history books

After a running joke of Iga stealing all the Wimbledon towels they give her one with her name on it :D

Iga Swiatek is now a Wimbledon champion. The former World No. 1 stormed to her sixth career Grand Slam singles title -- and a first at the All England Club -- with a 6-0, 6-0 defeat of American Amanda Anisimova in Saturday's final -- making her a Grand Slam champion on all surfaces.
In a commanding 57 minutes -- and just the second 6-0, 6-0 Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era --- Swiatek swept to her first title since she lifted a fourth Roland Garros trophy last spring, and improved her record to 6-0 in major finals.

In addition to making her the first Wimbledon singles champion from Poland in the Open Era, the victory also marks Swiatek's 100th career Grand Slam match win. She now is 100-20 in Grand Slam main draws since her Grand Slam main-draw debut in 2019.

Swiatek, who hadn't reached a grass-court final in her career before the Bad Homburg Open in early June -- where she lost to Jessica Pegula -- said leaving SW19 with the Venus Rosewater Dish is "surreal."

"I'm just appreciating every minute. I'm just proud of myself because, yeah, who would have expected that?" she said after conquering the major played on the surface she long struggled to master. "For sure it's a lot, especially after a season with a lot of ups and downs and a lot of expectations from the outside that I didn't really match winning Wimbledon.

"I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself."

"I was in a fog," recalled Evert of the early stages of that final while commentating for ESPN. Anisimova hit 14 unforced errors in each set, and failed to hold serve despite holding four game points in the third game. It was the only game of the 12 in which she had a break or game point.

Anisimova found stronger strokes in the early stages of the second set -- including a 90-mph forehand winner to pull to 30-30 with Swiatek serving 6-0, 1-0. But it did not translate to the scoreboard, and Swiatek joined Stefanie Graf in an exclusive club of players to win a major final without losing a game. Graf defeated Natasha Zvereva by the same score in the final of Roland Garros in 1988.

Afterwards, Anisimova admitted to being "a bit frozen .. with my nerves" as the toll of the last two weeks accumulated.

"She came out playing very, very well. So all the credit to her. She was able to really play the game she wanted, I think," she said. "She definitely made it difficult for me. Yeah, she's an unbelievable player, as I've said many times. She deserves this win."

wtatennis.com

Iga Swiatek is a Wimbledon Champion. 

I've been saying this all week, but if you told me this at the beginning of the year I would have laughed myself silly. 

In the sense that I always thought that the grass and Wimbledon would take Iga the longest to master. 

It's been several hours and that still hasn't fully sunk in. I can only imagine how Iga herself feels. 

I mentioned in my last post that it'd come down to who handles the occasion and their nerves better, and Iga passed that test with flying colours..  

There's no denying that Anisimova got a bit swallowed up by it all, understandably so this being her first ever Grand Slam Final (it's happened to many before her). 

I did genuinely feel bad for her in the 2nd set. No one likes not being able to perform the way you know you can on the biggest day of your life. 

But I think not enough attention is being put on the fact that this was Iga's first ever career Wimbledon too. I'm certain she felt plenty of nerves. 

But she handled them extraordinarily well.  A 6/0 6/0 in your first ever Wimbledon Final is simply otherworldly (hasn't happened at Wimbledon in over a 100). I was 7 years old when Steffi Graff did it in 1988 at Roland Garros. 

Exceptional.

I know a lot of people will look at this final and say Anisimova didn't show up, and that's partly true. But it also has to be said that Iga played fantastic and didn't let her breathe just as she has been doing to all of her opponents this tournament.

It's that mental toughness that so many people underestimate and under appreciate when it comes to Iga.

I'm also certain a lot of people will point to the score and say "see this is why women's tennis is boring and men's is better" because they play 5 sets etc. 

Forgetting just how many one sided score lines Rafa Nadal had at Roland Garros over 14 years. 

In those matches you knew the opponent would lose before they even got on court. 

And it was called devastating and brilliant. But god forbid a woman does the same thing and the only thing everyone focuses on is the score line itself. Automatically judging it as boring and bad for the WTA. 

It's just another example of the horrendous double standard that women face in this sport. I hate it. 

But back to Iga, what a terrific run she went on in the last 2 weeks. No one even considered her at the start of the tournament because of all her recent struggles. 

She hadn't won a title in over a year and proceeded to win the biggest one of them all on a surface everyone said she couldn't play on. That is one way to silence your doubters and haters.  

Many of whom thought she would axe Wim Fissette before the year was even through. Instead Fisette proves once again why he's an elite coach.

At 6 Grand Slams she officially has more titles than people like, Kim Clijsters, Martina Hingis, and Maria Sharapova. All of whom are now retired and Iga's career has just begun. 

Legendary. That's the only word that fits. 

I don't know what else to say other than I feel immeasurably proud to come from Poland and grateful to have Iga Swiatek play the sport of tennis. 

I hope she now has the best vacation and does nothing but read books on the beach, eating her favourite foods.

Thank you Iga, rest up, and enjoy this moment to the fullest.

We'll see you on the hardcourts of North America.

Jazda!

0 - Iga Swiatek is 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). Incredible. 

3/3 - Iga Swiatek is the fifth-youngest player to win Women’s Singles Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces in the Open Era - the youngest since Serena Williams in 2002. Diamond.

6 - Iga Swiatek is the third player in the Open Era to win all their first six Women’s Singles Grand Slam finals after Margaret Court and Monica Seles. Undefeated.

2 - Iga Swiatek is the player with the fewest games dropped combined in SF (2) and final (0) to claim a Women's Singles Major title in the Open Era, surpassing the previous record held by Martina Navratilova in Wimbledon 1983 (five). GameOver.

Not the first 6-0 6-0 Wimbledon women's final In 1911, Dorothy Lambert Chambers defeated Dora Boothby by that same score