LONDON, Great Britain - Poland's Iga Swiatek added her name to the girls' roll of honor at Wimbledon on Saturday, as the 17-year-old captured her first Grand Slam juniors title over Swiss qualifier Leonie Kung, 6-4, 6-2.
Swiatek became the fourth player from her country to win the girls' singles title at Wimbledon, joining Aleksandra Olsza, the 1995 winner, and the Radwanska sisters, Agnieszka and Urszula, victorious in 2005 and 2007, respectively.
"I was scared that I will not do well because of the stress and the pressure, but I felt great on court," the champion said after the match.
"My serve was really good. I played very fast balls, so I'm happy with that. It was great."
After missing several months of the 2017 season due to ankle surgery, the 17-year-old served notice in her return to junior Grand Slam play at Roland Garros, where she reached the semifinals in singles and won the doubles alongside singles runner-up Caty McNally.
The former junior World No.6 came into Wimbledon ranked World No.76, but sprung a big upset over top seed and former French Open junior champion Whitney Osuigwe in three sets in the opening round.
That proved to be the only set the Pole would lose in the tournament, as she also scored victories over No.16 seed and Australian Open runner-up Clara Burel and No.4 seed Wang Xinyu.
On the other side of the draw, Kung was having her own championship to remember, as the 17-year-old came through the qualifying and did not drop a set in her first six matches en route to the final four, before upsetting No.10 seed Wang Xiyu in a marathon 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 win there.
Swiatek's flashy nature, big serve and power game were on display over the course of 73 minutes in the final on No.1 Court, as she hit 33 winners to just 13 unforced errors, along with eight aces. She won 77% of the points played on her first serve, and totaled nearly two dozen unreturned serves in the match.
"I was thinking that this is why I play tennis, to make the show, to make people clap, to make them enjoy the game," she said. "I feel like that's my goal, to entertain. I think I learned [that] today. I didn't know about it. That's new for me.
"At the end, I was shaking. I was really tired at the end. She had three more matches, so...that's a tough tournament for her."
However, the Pole won't look to be the first player since Belinda Bencic in 2013 to win back-to-back junior Grand Slams in New York. She confessed after her victory that she has her sights set on the WTA ranks, and will not compete at the junior US Open.
"I think I want to build a better WTA ranking and to play senior tournaments. I hope I will do well next year in Wimbledon if I get a wildcard to ladies' singles. I can't wait. I've played junior Grand Slam since 2016. I had a long time to play juniors. Now, we had to take another step."
They were No.1 seeds for a reason...
Xinyu Wang and Xiyu Wang are the 2018 girls' doubles champions after a commanding 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Caty McNally and Whitney Osuigwe#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/mltXA86RaB— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 15, 2018
In the girls' doubles final, top seeds Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu showed why they held that mantle, defeating McNally and Osuigwe to win their first Grand Slam as a pair, 6-2, 6-1.
The 16-year-old Wang Xinyu becomes a two-time junior doubles Grand Slam champion this season, after she and singles champion Liang En-shuo partnered to win the Australian Open in January.