Iga Swiatek handed a tricky draw in pursuit of 2023 Wimbledon title as Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Aryna Sabalenka all await the World No.1

Swiatek will begin her 2023 Wimbledon campaign with a match against China's Zhu Lin.

Iga Swiatek handed a tricky draw in pursuit of 2023 Wimbledon title as Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, and Aryna Sabalenka all await the World No.1

Iga Swiatek (Image via Planet Sport)

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, already a four-time Grand Slam winner at just 22, will be making her fourth appearance at the Wimbledon Championships. Surprisingly, this is the only Grand Slam where the Pole has never gone beyond the fourth round.

After winning her fourth straight Grand Slam final and third French Open crown in the last four years, Swiatek was made to sweat it out in her opening match of the grass court season at the Bad Homburg Open. Where she had to come from a set down to beat last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist, Tatjana Maria.

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Swiatek, who has been the No. 1-ranked player in the world since April 2022, has had a fairly good run so far in 2023. A subdued performance at the Australian Open, where she lost to 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, was followed by an emphatic victory at the Qatar Open. That’s not all, Swiatek further carried her good form to the Dubai Open, where she was runner-up to Barbora Krejcikova.

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In the run-up to her favorite Grand Slam, namely the French Open, where she has lost only two matches to date, the Pole didn’t taste much success in the clay court tournaments at Madrid and Rome, losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the final and to Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals, respectively.

However, interestingly, the story was much different at Roland-Garros, where she grabbed her third French Open crown by dropping just one set throughout the tournament. Swiatek has already been touted as the best women’s clay court player since Chris Evert.

Also read: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer above Novak Djokovic despite the Serb’s 23 Grand Slam titles claims former World No. 10 Juan Monaco

Tough path to the final for Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek 2
Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek, who has secured top seed billing yet again at the prestigious Wimbledon Championships, faces a potentially tricky draw in the pursuit of her first title at SW19. She is scheduled to square off against Zhu Lin of China in the first round. In the second round, Iga will go up against either Roland Garros 2022 semifinalist Martina Trevisan or Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo.

In the third round, Iga is likely to encounter Petra Martic or British player Harriet Dart. If the Pole progresses to the fourth round at Wimbledon, she will play against either Tokyo Olympics gold medalist and world No. 14 Belinda Bencic or 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.

Furthermore, if Swiatek were to make it to the last eight at Wimbledon for the very first time in her career, she could potentially face a gauntlet of top-ranked players. At the quarterfinal stage, she would face either World No. 6 Coco Gauff, former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, comeback mom Elina Svitolina, or World No. 11 Daria Kasatkina. 

The potential semifinal fixture for Swiatek would be against either World No. 4 Jessica Pegula or World No. 5 Caroline Garcia. For finals, she would be squaring off against an indomitable opponent in either World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur, or two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Swiatek was forced to withdraw from her scheduled semi-final against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti at the Bad Homburg Open due to illness. Tennis fans all over the world will be hoping that the young Polish star recovers quickly as she heads to Wimbledon.

  • Round 1 – Zhu Lin
  • Round 2 – Martina Trevisan/Sara Sorribes Tormo
  • Round 3 – Petra Martic/Harriet Dart
  • Round 4 – Belinda Bencic/Danielle Collins
  • Quarter-Finals – Coco Gauff/Daria Kasatkina/Victoria Azarenka/Elina Svitolina
  • Semi-Finals – Jessica Pegula/Caroline Garcia
  • Final – Aryna Sabalenka/Elena Rybakina/Ons Jabeur/Petra Kvitova

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