World No 1 Iga Swiatek looked every inch of the 5-time Grand Slam champion that she is, dealing with Croatia’s Petra Martic in efficient manner, 6-4 6-3, on Wimbledon’s Centre Court on Thursday, while Elena Rybakina needed 3 sets to advance past Laura Siegemund, but Jessica Pegula, the 5th seed, fell to 22-year-old Xinyu Wang in the biggest upset of Day 4.
Swiatek’s result gives the 23-year old Pole a tour-leading 45 match wins this season, against just 4 losses, as she reaches the Last 32 at The Championships, where she will meet recent Birmingham champion Yulia Putintseva from Kazakhstan.
Ultra-focused and a perfectionist, Swiatek will take some stopping in this sort of form, but she is also a realist.
“For sure I’m happy. It wasn’t easy because Petra is changing the rhythm a lot, she’s playing a lot of top spin, she’s playing slice, and I needed to adjust quickly,” claimed Swiatek, extending her current winning streak to 21 matches. “It’s not the first time I’ve come into this tournament with a ‘streak,’ it’s not that easy to have this baggage on your shoulders.”.
“This year feels different. I don’t feel like everyone is focusing on it. Two years ago was a lot harder when it was 30 something matches [37].
“I know I’m now playing on a different surface, that brings different challenges, and I’m just focusing on them, and not on the statistics.”
The dedicated ‘Swiftie’ [Taylor Swift fan] subtly used a track off the American superstar’s ‘1989’ album to describe her current grass court development.
“I want to get better here, on grass. I don’t feel like I need to prove anything, because it’s a totally different story. I’m just starting with a ‘blank space’ and going with it,” she said. “I feel like I’m making progress on grass, especially on the practice court and my goal is to implement it on matches. I have really low expectations, I’m focusing on the work, and the results will come after.”
Heading onto court, the top seed knew she had prevailed in all 3 of their previous meetings, including a 6-2 7-5 triumph over Martic in the Wimbledon 3rd round last summer.
It proved to be a similar tale on Thursday, as both players fired the ball across the net with ferocious power. Iga Swiatek was concerned about Petra Martic’s fall in the first set when they met at the net after their 2nd-round match© Francois Nel/Getty Images
Martic, competing in a milestone 50th major, sent out a warning signal with a forehand arrowed down the line at 2-2, but Swiatek’s short, sharp response was to serve and strike consecutive forehand winners.
The Croatian, 10 years Swiatek’s senior and ranked 85 in the world, fell and needed treatment after the 7th game of the first set, but resumed apparently unimpeded.
At 5-4, Swiatek stepped in and swatted away an array of hot-shot groundstrokes to seal the opener.
Into the second, at 2-1, the 23-year-old Pole split-stepped, struck a forehand and froze for a second to admire the mathematics, the ball landing in the cross-over between the baseline and tramline.
Swiatek was turning the screw, probing for a pivotal break-through, but Martic was doing a stellar job of resisting and keeping the Pole at bay by holding until 4-3.
Three passing shots exemplified Swiatek’s growing confidence on grass, and, after firing a serve that Martic netted, she was soon saluting the Wimbledon crowd once again.
The 23-year-old has triumphed at the Madrid and Rome Opens as well as taking the Roland Garros title, before switching to the Wimbledon grass, where she is making positive inroads, quietly and efficiently.
“I’m happy to play in a solid way,” Swiatek said. “I felt like I had control in most of the games when Petra served, but I couldn’t really break it. I’m happy that I broke twice. That was a necessary thing to do to win these sets.”
In the next round, Swiatek meets 35th-ranked Putintseva, who battled past Czech Katerina Siniakova, 6-0 4-6 6-2.
“I’m kind of doing everything step by step and every match matters for me,” Swiatek said. “It’s not like I’m going in the first rounds of Grand Slams knowing that I should win, or I should take it for granted. I’m ready to battle even in the first rounds.”
“I’m happy that I’m consistent, for sure.” Elena Rybakina dropped the middle set to Laura Siegemund but came through the ‘tough’ encounter on No 2 Court on Day 4 at Wimbledon© Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Putintseva’s compatriot, No 4 seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, also had to struggle through 3 sets against the tricky German, Laura Siegemund, 6-3 3-6 6-3.
It was tight for a time, but this was ultimately settled by her destructive fire-power off both wings.“It’s always tough to play against Laura and for some reason every time we play, it’s super windy on the court,” she said. “It’s been a tough one and I’m really happy that I managed to win. Hopefully the next match will be more solid from my side. It gives me confidence, but every match is different and every match is tough – even when I won in 2022, I had some tough matches.”
The enigmatic Kazakh was famously criticised for not smiling after her 2022 success, prompting beaten finalist, Ons Jabeur, to joke: “I need to teach her how to celebrate!”
The very reserved Rybakina did allow herself a glimmer of a smile after her win, when saying it was ‘tough’.
Rybakina, who is seeded to meet Swiatek in the semis, eventually came through after firing 5 aces and 29 winners, and capitalising on 4 break points with a 75% first serve point win rate, while Siegemund struggled with 30 unforced errors and 3 double-faults, ultimately contributing to Rybakina’s win.
Arguably, the upset of the week came when 22-year-old Wang Xinyu from China upset Jessica Pegula, 6-4 6-7(7) 6-1.
The American was considered a dark horse contender after reaching the quarter-final here just a year ago.
It was an Independence Day that Pegula, no doubt, will prefer to forget, and from the start, it was clear she was not firing on all cylinders on No 3 Court, as Wang’s crisp forehands found the lines and the American’s error-count began to rise as her body language gradually slumped.
Wang carved out the first of 6 breaks of the Pegula serve in the 7th game, and although the American saved the first 2 break points from love-40, she could not cope with the pin-point return onto the baseline on the 3rd.
Wang then served for the set 3 games later, and while the Chinese lost a nervous opening point, Pegula missed an excellent chance to apply some serious pressure, stabbing a tentative forehand into the net, and her opponent eventually served it out to 30.
The second saw 4 breaks of serve to 4-4, and while Pegula scrapped ferociously to save 5 break points, she was broken again in the 11th game, leaving Wang serving for the match.
The Chinese’s nerves wobbled and a double-fault at 15-40 was a miserable way to let her chance slip as matters then moved on into a tiebreak, which turned out to be outstanding, swinging one way and then the other amid some thunderous shot-making from both sides of the net.
A match point on the Wang serve came and went as Pegula dug deep to level the contest at a set apiece.
Wang could have floundered, but she simply returned to the heavy hitting of the first set, and swiftly raced to 4-0, only for the nerves to briefly return as she served for the match for a second time, but, from 15-40, the Chinese fought back…
