World No. 1 Iga Swiatek kicked off her Wimbledon campaign in style as she defeated China's Zhu Lin 6-1, 6-3 to progress on Monday.
Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts while competing against Zhu Lin of China during the women's singles 1st round match at Wimbledon Tennis Championship in London, Britain, on July 3, 2023. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
Landing on the grass-court season with her third title in Roland Garros, and fourth Grand Slam overall, the 22-year-old pulled out of the Bad Homburg Open last week due to "some fever and possible food poisoning."
But the Pole recovered just in time to come to Wimbledon, where she has yet reached beyond the fourth round.
Facing the highest-ranked unseeded player Zhu in her opening match, Swiatek showed her dominance from the start, surging to a 5-0 lead before taking the first set 6-1 in just 35 minutes.
"I think it was a really solid performance from me, so I'm happy that I could just play my game and be in the rhythm, even though it was the first round," Swiatek said.
The second set was halted by rain when Swiatek led 4-3, after Zhu broke for the first time in the seventh game. But the top seed came back with more patience, breaking back in the eighth before serving for her victory in the following game.
"She was like everywhere on the court. Her moving was so great," Zhu said about Swiatek. "I didn't want to say that she was at another level compared with other players on the Tour, but she was able to play very consistently, you can hardly feel her emotional fluctuations in the match, just playing one by one with high quality."
One year ago Swiatek arrived as French Open champion, too, but also with a 35-match winning streak that was the longest in the women's game in some 25 years. However, she was bundled out in the third round by French veteran Alize Cornet, which saw her winning streak ended at 37 matches.
"The thing is that last year I just felt like I still have this streak going. After Roland Garros, kind of everybody was talking about that. It was a lot kind of on my shoulders when I got into the tournament," Swiatek said.
"I think this year is much more comfortable for me. For sure winning a Grand Slam this year, it feels like I kind of reached my goal. I was really kind of happy and I could celebrate after. But last year, I just felt more expectations. I think that's the difference."
Next for Swiatek will be the winner between 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy and Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo, whose best record at Wimbledon was the second round.
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, seeded 19th, needed three sets to dispatch Yuan Yue of China 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while fourth seed Jessica Pegula squandered two match points in the second set before securing her victory in the decider to oust fellow American Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-3.
On the men's side, seventh seed Andrey Rublev dispatched Australian Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. Italy's 14th seed Lorenzo Musetti beat Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru 6-3, 6-1, 7-5.
