By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Monday, July 3, 2023
Not even a typical English rain delay could halt World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland from completing a comfortable straight sets win in her Wimbledon opening round.
The top seed and recent Roland Garros champion breezed past World No. 33 Zhu Lin 6-1, 6-3 to reach the second round at Wimbledon. With the result, Swiatek won her 15th consecutive opening round match at a major since a first round loss at Wimbledon in 2019.
A flawless start for the world No.1 👌@iga_swiatek powers into the second round moving past Lin Zhu 6-1, 6-3 👏#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/xu6EFOmtRW
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2023
A former junior Wimbledon champion, Swiatek is aiming to go beyond a career best fourth round showing at the All-England Club.
After the match, Swiatek was asked about the difference between playing in the juniors and the main draw.
“It’s seems like a lifetime ago,” Swiatek said. “Junior tournament was something that gave me the belief that I’m going to be able to play well on grass but for sure it’s a different story playing in the Ladies tournament and I feel really good.”
Before the event, Swiatek withdrew from her semifinal match at Bad Homburg, Germany due to a self-described fever and illness. Despite the concern, the Polish star looked in top form right from the start as she breezed through the opening set.
The match could have been a lot tougher considering that Zhu just missed out on a seed this year. Midway through the second set, a rain delay suspended play until the roof over Court No. 1 could be closed.
Swiatek, leading up a break 4-3 in the second set, resumed her control over the match. With a piercing down the line backhand return winner, Swiatek sealed the 6-1, 6-3 victory.
Still fresh off defending her Roland Garros title in Paris, Swiatek added that she took some extra time to really savor her accomplishment before jumping onto the grass courts.
“After Roland Garros I took some time to appreciate what had happened,” Swiatek said. “When I won Roland Garros last year it still felt overwhelming but this time I could really just focus on getting back to work with more peace in my head and I tried to be open minded for the grass season and I think it’s working.”
Swiatek awaits the winner of the first round between Martina Trevisan and Sara Sorribes Toro.
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Blog RSS…