Iga Swiatek continued her title defence at Wimbledon with a resounding straight-sets win over 2021 runner-up Karolina Pliskova.
Swiatek, who is seeded third in the draw, spent just over an hour on the court during her 6-1, 6-3, win over the former world No.1. She has now reached the third round of all 26 major events this decade, which is something no other player on the WTA Tour has achieved. Furthermore, she joins Martina Navratilova and Concita Martinez in being the only women in the Open Era to reach the last 32 at 26 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments.
Taking on Pliskova, Swiatek got off to the perfect start by winning 16 out of the first 17 points played to open up a 4-0 lead in just 12 minutes. Besides a lackluster service game that saw her get broken, it was a solid opening set from the Pole and perhaps even more of a relief following her roller-coaster first round match two days ago.
Swiatek’s only test occurred during the early stages of the second set when she got broken once again to trail 2-0. However, she swiftly turned her fortunes around by winning six out of the next seven games en route to victory. This wasn’t her most dominant win over Plikova on the Tour. In 2021, she thrashed the Czech 6-0, 6-0 in the final of the Italian Open.
“I’m feeling more stable today – and that’s good,” said Swiatek, who was taken to three sets by Taylor Townsend in her opening match.
“The first round was really emotional for sure, but today I felt like it was another day in the office and I needed to be ready, be charge and make good decisions.
“It is always better when you’re able to think like that and it was a good day for me. I was consistent and I had a good level of focus, so I’m really happy with my performance.
“I just believed I could be the most solid player on the court. Even when she was playing fast and flat, I knew that my spin gives me control. I had things to challenge her with and that gave me a lot of belief.”
Commenting on Swiatek’s match for BBC Sport was seven-time champion Navratilova, who gave her an A+ rating. However, the 25-year-old believes her performance wasn’t that good.
“I don’t know if it was an A+ because at times it was a tricky game, especially with the wind,” she said. “Sometimes the balls were really low and far away from you. I felt like I played so many dirty shots in that final game especially, I wasn’t able to control them that much. So maybe not A+, more like B, I would say.”
Swiatek is bidding to become the first woman in a decade to win back-to-back Wimbledon titles. So far in her career, she has achieved a win-loss record of 20-5 at Wimbledon.
In the next round she will play Alexandra Eala, who defeated Maya Joint 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
