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LUCERNE, Switzerland: Poland’s Natalia Padilla-Bidas scored her country’s first goal at a major women’s tournament in a 3-2 victory over Denmark on Saturday that sends Poland home from their European championship debut on a high note.
Both teams had already been eliminated from quarter-final contention so Saturday’s match was about final group placings with Poland finishing third and Denmark fourth.
Bayern Munich’s Padilla-Bidas brought the Polish fans to their feet at Allmend Stadion with her historic strike in the 12th minute when a loose ball fell at her feet and she fired home.
Ewa Pajor, Poland’s all-time leading goalscorer, doubled their lead eight minutes later when she intercepted the ball in the midfield, laid it out to Padilla-Bidas then charged to the back post to head it in.
Janni Thomsen pulled one back in the 59th minute but Poland restored their two-goal lead when substitute Martyna Wiankowska struck from the edge of the box, firing the ball in off the bar.
Denmark, runners-up at Euro 2017, replied in the 83rd minute when Signe Bruun headed in Katrine Veje’s pinpoint cross.

LONDON: 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 Center 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.

“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 number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals, but Swiatek performed a demolition job.

Anisimova made a nervous start in hot conditions on Center 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.

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.”