(July 6, 2024) World No. 35 Yulia Putinseva ended No. 1 Iga Swiatek’s 21-match win streak on Saturday when the Kazakh rallied to beat the Pole 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday.
The victory was her first against the world No. 1 and puts Putinseva in the Wimbledon round of 16 for the first time.
“At some point I was playing fearless,” Putintseva said. “I was just, I can do it, I have to believe 100 percent, I have nothing to lose, just go for it. Also my coach told me, no matter which shot you’re doing, believe 100 percent and just follow.
“It’s when the turning point happened, I start to play really, really good. I think today I’m happy, extra happy, because she didn’t lose it; I took it.”
Just two weeks ago Putinseva won a Wimbledon warm-up grass court tournament, at Rothesay Classic in Birmingham. She now has an 8-match win streak.
“Honestly, the title in Birmingham give me a lot of confident that I can play and I can be good on grass,” Putintseva said, “because before that my statistic on grass wasn’t that successful. Let’s put it that way. Last year I won no matches on grass.
“Entering the tournament like Wimbledon, when you have five consecutive wins on grass, it’s pretty good. You feel this surface much, much better.”
“Going from this kind of tennis, where I felt like I’m playing the best tennis in my life, to another surface, where I kind of struggle a little bit more, it’s not easy,” said Swiatek in her news conference. “All that stuff really combines to me not really having a good time in Wimbledon.”
Putintseva will face 2017 Roland Garros champion, the 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko for a spot in the quarterfinals on Monday.
“I feel like on grass I need little bit more of that energy to keep being patient and accept some mistakes,” Swiatek said. “Like mentally, I didn’t really do that well on this tournament. I need to recover better after clay court season, both physically and mentally.”
“I literally came back to work — not tennis-wise, but off-court stuff — and I shouldn’t have done that. Maybe next year I’m going to take a vacation and literally just do nothing.”
“My tank of really pushing myself to the limits became, suddenly, empty,” she said. “I was kind of surprised.”
“I felt like I underachieved a little bit,” Swiatek said. “But it’s tennis, so you have to move on. I’ll have many more chances this year to show my game. I’ll just focus on that.”
Next tournament for Swiatek will be the Olympic Games.
