LONDON: Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova clash in the Wimbledon final on Saturday with a new women’s champion guaranteed for the eighth consecutive year.

Five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek had previously never gone beyond the quarter-finals at the All England Club while US 13th seed Anisimova is preparing for her first major final.

No player has retained the crown since the now-retired Serena Williams won her seventh and final Wimbledon title in 2016.

Aryna Sabalenka started as the hot favorite after reaching the past three Grand Slam finals but faltered in a gripping semifinal against Anisimova.

Poland’s Swiatek is seeded eighth at Wimbledon following a disappointing first half of the season, though she is back up to fourth in the rankings after reaching the final of the grass-court Bad Homburg tournament.

That run, together with her surge through the draw at All England Club, suggests the 24-year-old is cured of her grass-court allergy.

Initially she went under the radar at Wimbledon, with the focus on Sabalenka and French Open champion Coco Gauff, but she kept winning while the top seeds tumbled, dropping just one set on route to the final.

Swiatek brushed aside former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-0 in Thursday’s semifinal.

Four of her five Grand Slam titles have come on the clay of Roland Garros and she won the 2022 US Open on hard courts.

But she is finally showing an affinity with the lawns of Wimbledon, a development that has shocked even her.

“Honestly, I never even dreamed that it’s going to be possible for me to play in the final,” Swiatek said.

“So I’m just super-excited and proud of myself and, I don’t know, tennis keeps surprising me.

“I’ve been enjoying just this new feeling of being a bit more comfortable on grass.”

Swiatek has won all five of her Grand Slam finals, but standing in the way of a sixth major title and a cheque for $4 million (£3 million) is Anisimova.

The 23-year-old American shattered Sabalenka’s title bid with a shock 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win on Thursday.

Anisimova has overcome many obstacles to make her maiden Grand Slam final.

She reached the French Open semifinals in 2019 at the age of just 17.

But in 2023 she took an eight-month break from the court for mental health reasons, tumbling out the top 400.

This time last year, she was on the comeback trail but was ranked too low to get into the Wimbledon main draw and fell in qualifying.

“If you told me I would be in the final of Wimbledon, I would not believe you. It’s indescribable to be honest,” she said.

Anisimova, whose parents emigrated from Russia in the 1990s, added: “I think it goes to show that it is possible.

“I think that’s a really special message that I think I’ve been able to show because when I took my break, a lot of people told me that you would never make it to the top again if you take so much time away from the game.”

Anisimova won the Qatar Open in February and showed she was comfortable on grass by reaching the Queen’s Club final in June.

She is guaranteed to reach the top 10 for the first time when the rankings are updated on Monday.

The two players have never met professionally, though they did face each other as juniors, with Swiatek coming out on top.

“I did lose that match against her, unfortunately,” said Anisimova. “I remember a lot of coaches were saying that she’s going to be a big deal one day. Obviously they were right.

“I’m sure it will be an amazing match. Getting to compete against an unbelievable player again is going to be super special.”

LONDON: Jannik Sinner crushed Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals to set up the latest instalment of his gripping rivalry with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s final.

The world number one is through to his fourth successive Grand Slam title match — and his first at the All England Club — after a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 demolition on Center Court on Friday.

The 23-year-old will be desperate to avenge his painful French Open defeat against world number two Alcaraz after squandering three championship points in last month’s epic Roland Garros final.

Sinner and Alcaraz are the undisputed new kings of men’s tennis, claiming the past six majors between them.

Defeat on a baking Center Court means seven-time champion Djokovic, who was apparently not 100 percent fit, must wait for another shot at a record 25th Grand Slam title.

It is the first time he has failed to reach the Wimbledon final since 2017 and he has come up short in his bid to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record of eight Wimbledon titles.

“It’s a tournament I always watched when I was young on the television and I would have never imagined that I can play here, you know in the finals, so it was amazing,” said Sinner.

“From my side, I served very well today, I felt great on court, I was moving really well today.

“We saw in the third set that he was a bit injured. He’s been in a very difficult situation but I tried to stay calm, to play the best tennis I can.”

Italy’s Sinner was still wearing a white protective sleeve after injuring his elbow in a nasty fall against Grigor Dimitrov in his fourth-round match.

Djokovic also came into the contest, watched by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, with questions over his fitness after tumbling to the turf late in his quarter-final victory against Flavio Cobolli.

Top seed Sinner broke Djokovic in the third game, unleashing a barrage of relentlessly accurate groundstrokes to wear the sixth seed down.

The Serb, 38, wilted under the onslaught in the ninth game as Sinner converted his third set point.

Sinner did not let up at the start of the second set, breaking for a 2-0 lead to tighten his grip on the match.

Djokovic was struggling to gain a foothold but held for 3-1 to roars from the crowd, desperate to witness a classic battle.

Chants of “Nole” rang around the stadium as fans tried to lift Djokovic but he was powerless to prevent Sinner opening up a 5-2 lead.

He saved a set point on his own serve but that merely delayed the inevitable as Sinner wrapped up the set with only 69 minutes on the clock.

Djokovic received treatment from the trainer between sets on the upper part of his left leg, apparently on the area he hurt in the match against Cobolli.

He broke for the first time in the match as he suddenly found a new gear, but was pegged back to 3-2 and roared in frustration at the changeover.

Struggling physically, Djokovic was broken again as Sinner sealed victory with his fourth match point.

Sinner, the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion, returned from a doping ban in May, losing the Italian Open final to Alcaraz before his collapse in the Roland Garros showpiece.

Now he has chance for revenge against the man who has won the past two Wimbledon titles and is the current top dog on grass.

“It is a huge honor for me to share the court once again with Carlos,” he said. “We try to push ourselves to the limit, he is for sure one of the players I look up to.

“I love watching him, I think you all guys agree on that, what kind of talent he is but hopefully it’s going to be a good match like the last one.”

Sinner trails 8-4 in their head to head meetings, losing the past five matches.

The Italian can take heart from beating Alcaraz in the Wimbledon fourth round in 2022, his rival’s last defeat at the All England Club.