Swiatek Breezes Through Rain Delay in Wimbledon Opener

By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Monday, July 3, 2023

Not even a typical English rain delay might halt World No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland from finishing a snug straight units win in her Wimbledon opening spherical.

The high seed and up to date Roland Garros champion breezed previous World No. 33 Zhu Lin 6-1, 6-3 to achieve the second spherical at Wimbledon. With the consequence, Swiatek received her fifteenth consecutive opening spherical match at a significant since a primary spherical loss at Wimbledon in 2019.

A flawless begin for the world No.1 👌@iga_swiatek powers into the second spherical shifting previous 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 transcend a profession finest fourth spherical exhibiting on the All-England Club.

After the match, Swiatek was requested in regards to the distinction between taking part in within the juniors and the principle 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 occasion, Swiatek withdrew from her semifinal match at Bad Homburg, Germany because of a self-described fever and sickness. Despite the priority, the Polish star appeared in high kind proper from the beginning as she breezed via the opening set.

The match might have been so much more durable contemplating that Zhu simply missed out on a seed this yr. Midway via the second set, a rain delay suspended play till the roof over Court No. 1 could possibly be closed.

Swiatek, main up a break 4-3 within the second set, resumed her management over the match. With a piercing down the road backhand return winner, Swiatek sealed the 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Still contemporary off defending her Roland Garros title in Paris, Swiatek added that she took some further time to actually savor her accomplishment earlier than leaping 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 primary spherical between Martina Trevisan and Sara Sorribes Toro. 

Photo credit score: Rob Newell/CameraSport