Around this time of the year, without a World Cup or the Olympic Games, it is usually a dark period for sports fans, with nothing much to watch and very little to cheer for. However, in the space of two days last weekend, there were a few memorable events and several edge-of-your-seat moments that contributed to bright lights on the sporting calendar. Here is a quick look.

Wimbledon Women’s Final: This was contested on Saturday, July 12 between Iga Swiatek from Poland and American Amanda Anisimova, the first time that both players have ever reached this stage of the tournament, and also their first-ever professional matchup. The result was a baptism by fire for the 23-year-old American, in a ruthless display from the 24-year-old Pole. Swiatek claimed her first Wimbledon title in only 57 minutes, defeating Anisimova in a very rare, straight set, double-bagel (6-0, 6-0) victory. Note: In tennis a 6-0 scoreline is nicknamed a bagel, while a 6-1 win is a breadstick.

Anisimova, the 13th seed, was appearing in her first Grand Slam Final, but Swiatek, the No 4 player in the world, was already the holder of five Grand Slam titles. ‘Iga’s Bakery’, as she is nicknamed by many fans, registered 6-0 sets in three of her first four matches in January’s Australian Open and 12 players have lost a set 6-0 to Swiatek this year, including Dayana Yastremska (twice), Emma Raducanu, Belinda Bencic, and Victoria Azarenka. Additionally, she defeated former world number one Karolina Pliskova by the same scoreline in the 2021 Italian Open Final.

The result marked her sixth-straight sets victory at Wimbledon this year and her double bagel victory marked just the second-ever instance for a women’s singles final at Wimbledon (Dorothea Lambert Chambers beat Dora Boothby 6-0, 6-0, in 1911), but the first in the Open Era, and the first in any women’s Grand Slam Final since Steffi Graff beat Natasha Zvereva in just 34 minutes at the 1988 French Open. Swiatek continued her astounding record in major finals, winning 12 and losing just one set in her six outings.

Wimbledon Men’s Final: The matchup on Sunday, July 13 between the two undisputed faces of modern tennis lived up to the hype, and then some. It was a rematch of June’s five-hour marathon French Open final, which many consider among the greatest matches in the sport’s history. The No 1 seeded Jannik Sinner claimed his first Wimbledon title by beating the second seeded Carlos Alcaraz in four sets, in another riveting Grand Slam final.

Alcaraz, who had won the last two editions of Wimbledon, took the first set 6-4, but Sinner battled back to win three-straight sets by the same margin, in three hours and four minutes, to avenge his heartbreaking defeat just 35 days before. For Sinner, it was his first Grand Slam victory on anything other than a hard court (he won the 2024 and 2025 Australian Open and 2024 US Open), he became the first Italian to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, and he snapped a streak of five successive defeats against Alcaraz. For the 22-year-old Spaniard, that was the first time that he lost a major final, having won all five previous championship matches, and missed out on the chance to join Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic as the only men in the Open Era to win three Wimbledon titles in a row.

The next major will be the US Open, which begins in late August. Sinner, who won the tournament last year, will have a chance to win his third Grand Slam of the year and a next matchup against Alcaraz is very likely. Fans can only wait.

Club World Cup Final: Most people expected the final on Sunday, July 13, before a tournament-high crowd of 81,188 in MetLife Stadium, to be heavily controlled by the French team, including JustBet, who had PSG as heavy favourites, but Cole Palmer and his Chelsea teammates had other ideas. The England attacking midfielder scored twice in the first half and set up a brilliant third goal for new signing Joao Pedro, before the break, in a comprehensive 3-0 win over in-form PSG, to snatch the first edition of the newly expanded competition.

PSG had been looking to complete a quadruple after winning their domestic championship (Ligue 1), the Coupe de France and its first Champions League title. They had scored 16 goal in the tournament and conceded only once heading into Sunday’s final, but the heavy defeat saw them losing by three goals for the first time since a 1-4 Champions League defeat at Newcastle in October 2023.

Chelsea won the competition for the second time, after 2021, when it was a seven-team event, and has added a brand-new trophy to their cabinet. They also topped the tournament with 17 goals, one better than PSG, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, and are now entitled to wear a special FIFA Club World Cup winners’ badge on their shirts until the next tournament in 2029.

Major League Cricket Final: MI New York was crowned Major League Cricket (MLC) champion on Sunday, June 13, after beating Washington Freedom in a thrilling final at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas. After being put into bat first, New York posted 180-for-7 in their 20 overs, with Quinton de Kock leading the charge — 77 runs off 46 balls. The South African opener set the tone after Monank Patel’s quick 28, but a middle-order implosion saw them slip from 148-for-3 to 166-for-7 in quick time.

Washington was favoured by JustBet to defend their title but were rocked early in the chase, skidding to 0-for-2 in the first over after Trent Boult dismissed both Mitchell Owen and Andries Gous, without scoring. Washington regrouped and were looking good in the chase, requiring 24 runs from the last 12 balls. This was whittled down to 12 runs from the last over and, with the batting looking solid, Washington appeared to have the victory in hand.

However, 22-year-old American cricketer and the seasons’ Most Valuable Player, Rushil Ugarkar, tasked with protecting the 12-run lead, held his nerve and bowled like a seasoned professional. He allowed only two runs off the final over, and in an extremely tense finish, broke Washington’s heart, which sealed New York’s second title in three seasons. Anticipating another exciting season next year.

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