“I miss Ash Barty” Iga Swiatek races past Jana Fett to advance into the second round of Wimbledon 2022
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Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek makes a winning grasscourt debut for the season as she defeated World No. 252 Jana Fett who entered the main-draw by winning the qualifiers of the ongoing 2022 Wimbledon Championships. Swiatek won the match 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour and 14 minutes to move into the second round of the Grand Slam.
Swiatek had trouble with her shoulder and decided to sit out the entire time between the 2022 French Open and Wimbledon to be fully fit and give time to her body to rest up. Despite no match practice on the surface coming into the match, in no way it looked that the Pole was playing on the surface for the first time as she dropped a bagel in the first set in 33 minutes. While Jana took a 3-1 lead and could have made it 4-1 in the second set. But the Pole fought her way back to not drop anymore game and close it at 6-3.
“I have played only 12 weeks on grass in my life”: Iga Swiatek
With the win, Iga now breaks Venus Williams‘ record of 35 consecutive wins as she registers her 36th consecutive win of the season with the streak starting back in February 2022. Iga now holds the record for having the record of most consecutive wins in the 21st century. She is however quite behind Martina Navratilova‘s all-time record of 74 consecutive wins set between 1984 and 1986. Swiatek is now having the 11th longest winning streak in the sport.
“It’s my first match on the grass this season and I knew it was going to be tricky. In the second set, in the beginning, I lost my focus a little bit and she used it well. I am pretty happy that I came back and finished the match in two sets. I am just figuring out how to play here and trying to implement that I was practising so it is very exciting and a new experience for me. It is very tricky because I still feel like I have only played, I don’t know, 12 weeks on grass in my life.
“The atmosphere, all the traditions that are here it is really pumping me up and I am really motivated to play here and I want to use the experience that my coach has. I am just looking forward to the next matches. I do (enjoying the streak and ranking). It’s very convenient. I mean, I really worked on that and how tough the last few weeks were and my team also gave huge support. I think it’s great, but I am sad that Ash (Barty) isn’t here because I would love to play against her on the grass.
“But I feel like even though with her retirement in the next couple of tournaments I realised that it is a nice place to be but I am still trying to figure out how to stay in that position and be consistent here so we’ll see,” said Iga in her on-court interview. With the win over Jana, Iga will now take on Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove who comes into the second round after defeating British wildcard player Sonay Kartal.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)