List of the most one-sided Grand Slam finals: Is there hope for Anisimova?

(Getty/A. Messerschmidt)

Iga Świątek's demolition of Amanda Anisimova in this year's Wimbledon final will go down as one of the most impressive Grand Slam final performances in recent history.

Świątek was ruthless from the first point of the match, suffocating the first-time major finalist in a relentless display. The 6-0 6-0 score line was striking to say the least, only the second time in the Open Era that a player has failed to win a single game in a Grand Slam final. 

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For Anisimova, such a comprehensive defeat on a massive occasion will make for an unpleasant memory, with potential repercussions for the remainder of her career. 

How the American will respond in the coming months and years remains to be seen, but perhaps she can look to the past for some inspiration from fellow players who have found themselves on the receiving end of a beat-down on one of tennis' biggest stages.

Steffi Graf d. Natasha Zvereva 6-0, 6-0, Roland Garros 1988

The only other double-bagel Grand Slam final in the Open Era saw Graf demolish Zvereva in 1988 to claim her second Roland Garros title.

The win was Graf's second major title of the year, in a season she would go on to win all four majors plus Olympic gold in Seoul.

Losing so handily to one of the most dominant players the game has ever seen in one of her most dominant seasons is quite understandable.

Zvereva was just 17 at the time of the final, but in a positive omen for Anisimova, the Belarusian went on to have one of the most illustrious careers in the history of the sport. She would finish 1988 ranked No.7, before going on to make a further six Grand Slam quarter finals, plus a semi-final at Wimbledon in 1998, a tournament during which she defeated Graf in the third-round. 

However, the vast majority of Zvereva's successes would come on the doubles court, where she won 20 Grand Slam titles across both women's and mixed doubles events.

For Zvereva, a 6-0, 6-0 Slam final defeat proved to be a minor hiccup on the road to significant success on the court.

Iga Świątek d. Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1, Roland Garros 2024

In the more recent past, Świątek was dishing out similarly one-sided score lines in other Grand Slam finals. 

Against Paolini, the Polish player served up some of her very best clay court tennis as she claimed a third consecutive Roland Garros crown.

Although Paolini was comfortably outmatched on the day, she too did not allow the result to deter her rise through the ranks.

The Italian backed up her surprise Roland Garros final appearance the very next month, reaching the Wimbledon final where she was narrowly defeated by Barbora Krejčíková. Paolini finished 2024 ranked No.4 — a just reward for a superb breakout season.

Roger Federer d. Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 7-6(3), 6-0, US Open 2004

Unlike Anisimova, Zvereva and Paolini, at the time, Hewitt endured a crushing Grand Slam final defeat at the 2004 US Open; his reputation as one of the game's greats was already firmly established.

A two-time Grand Slam singles champion and former World No.1, Hewitt was the fourth-seed at Flushing Meadows in 2004 and reached the final without dropping a set.

However, the Australian came up against a player aiming for his third Grand Slam title of the season in Federer.

The Swiss maestro had already defeated Hewitt at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon that year, but not many anticipated such a one-sided affair in New York.

Despite taking the second set to a tie-break, suffering two 6-0 set losses in a Grand Slam final made for a forgettable day for Hewitt.

Yet the defeat did little to dampen the Aussies' spirit, who had enjoyed somewhat of a career revival which would continue into the 2005 season. In fact, Hewitt made the final at the very next Grand Slam event, before reaching two more major semi-finals as he finished 2005 ranked fourth in the world.

Sloane Stephens d. Madison Keys 6-3, 6-0, US Open 2017

The 2017 US Open is largely remembered as the tournament that will likely define the career of its champion, Stephens. 

The unseeded American entered the event using a protected ranking, before shocking the world as she went all the way to Grand Slam glory. 

Less celebrated was the run of Keys, who came agonisingly close to fulfilling her long-touted potential but struggled to find the court at times in the biggest match of her career to that point.

Despite recovering well enough to make the semi-finals at two Grand Slam events the following season, it appeared that Keys had missed her best opportunity to be a Grand Slam champion for many years following her US Open defeat.

Dropping outside the top 50 of the rankings in 2021, few would have foreseen her return to the summit of the sport in 2025.

Winning the Australian Open and putting together the best season of her career, Keys has well and truly dispelled the demons from that match almost a decade ago.

John McEnroe d. Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, Wimbledon 1984

Perhaps the most famous one-sided Grand Slam final in history saw eight-time major singles champion Connors comprehensively beaten by fellow American great McEnroe at Wimbledon. 

Whilst Connors had won the most recent of his Grand Slam titles less than a year prior and was the third-seed at Wimbledon, the defeat proved to be a defining moment in the American's career as his last Grand Slam singles final.

The Wimbledon result could not be solely pinned on Connors' declining performances though, considering McEnroe played one of the all-time great matches, making just four unforced errors across the three sets.

Nonetheless, the result was a seismic one for a player as decorated as Connors. The five-time US Open champion would never again recapture the heights of his playing ability but would go on to forge a reputation as not just one of the sport's greats, but also as one of its longest-serving players.

Following the 1984 season, Connors added four ATP Tour titles to take his career tally to 109, as he continued to play professional tennis until his final match in 1996.

Steffi Graf d. Monica Seles 6-2, 6-1, Wimbledon 1992

Whilst the double-bagel against Zvereva is understandably one of the most notable of Graf's 22 major singles titles, perhaps her most impressive final performance came four years later at Wimbledon.

Seles' status as a teen phenom, perhaps the greatest in the history of the sport, was well established by the time she reached her first final at the All England Club.

Already a six-time Grand Slam champion at the age of 18, Seles also had two Grand Slam final wins against Graf by the time they met at Wimbledon.

But in what would prove to be her only major singles defeat in eight appearances between 1991-1993, Seles was crushed by Graf in the Wimbledon final, winning only three games in the match.

The Yugoslavian's irresistible form would continue for the remainder of 1992, as she went on to defend her US Open title and once again finished the year ranked No.1, before winning a third consecutive Australian Open at the start of 1993.

Of course, the infamous stabbing incident was to follow and put an end to Seles' reign of dominance, but the 1992 Wimbledon final proved to be little more than a hiccup during one of the most dominant spells in tennis history.

Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, Roland Garros 2008

More than a few of Nadal's Roland Garros finals could feature in a discussion of the most one-sided Grand Slam finals.

On seven separate occasions, the Spaniard dispatched an opponent in the final in Paris by dropping 10 games or fewer.

Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, David Ferrer, Casper Ruud and Robin Soderling were all victims of a Rafa routing, but arguably the most famous of them all was Nadal's greatest rival, Federer. 

Federer had been bested by Nadal in the three previous editions of the tournament, including the last two finals, but on each occasion was able to push the Spaniard to four sets.

Not so in 2008 though, where Nadal handed Federer the heaviest Grand Slam final defeat of his decorated career.

Having already been beaten by Nadal on multiple occasions in Paris, the 2008 final was in some ways an encapsulation of Federer's struggles against his greatest rival on clay, against whom he would lose all six career encounters on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Although Federer would go on to lose further Grand Slam finals against Nadal at Wimbledon and the Australian Open in the following year, the one-sided defeat hardly derailed his position at the summit of the sport. 

Federer would win a further eight Grand Slam titles, including at the following year's Roland Garros, where he completed the career Grand Slam.

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