Iga Swiatek can do no wrong at the moment. Having sealed her second French Open on the trot earlier this month, the Pole rocked up to Wimbledon in fine fashion, dispatching Croatian Jana Fett in straight sets. Having skipped the entirety of the grass-court season in the lead-up to Wimbledon, the no. 1 ranked player still looked at ease on the surface, overpowering the Croat with her all-court game. The win also took her past Venus Williams’ mark of 35 consecutive wins on the WTA tour, making hers the longest streak among female players since the turn of the millennium.  

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Dishing out ten winners to her opponent’s seven, Swiatek managed to quell Fett’s mini resistance in the second set. Handing a bagel to the unfancied Croat in the first, the 21-year-old wavered in the early exchanges of the second. Twice going down a break, the hot-favourite clawed back the deficit without fuss. Speaking after the match, Swiatek expressed satisfaction at her first grass-court outing of the season:

“It’s my first match on grass this season so I knew it was going to be tricky. In the second set, at the beginning I lost my focus a little bit, and she used that pretty well. So, umm, I’m pretty happy that I came back and that I could finish in two sets.”

Skipping the grass-court events due to a shoulder injury, Swiatek had to adjust to the surface on Centre Court, a daunting prospect if any:

“I’m just figuring out how to play here and trying to implement all the stuff that we were practising on, so it’s pretty exciting. It’s a new experience for me basically,” added the Pole.

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But after 36 wins on the spin, Swiatek does not lack the confidence to better her fourth-round showing at Wimbledon in 2021. The Pole is well on her way to greatness, having first toppled Serena Williams’ 34-match streak after her French Open triumph against Coco Gauff. With the record now hers to keep, she’ll settle for nothing less than a shot at the Venus Rosewater Dish. Standing in her way in the second round is veteran Dutch player, Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove.