World No. 1 Iga Swiatek recorded her second career streak of 20 or more wins in a row with a straight-sets victory over fellow Grand Slam champion Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon on Tuesday. Attempting to surpass her magnificent 37-match winning streak in 2022, Swiatek hit the landmark once more as she got her campaign at the All England Club off to an impressive start.
Sofia Kenin was a tough draw for Iga Swiatek in the first round of Wimbledon, but the top seed did not have too much trouble defeating the American in the end with a fine win.
The top seed, who is aiming to become the first woman to win back-to-back Grand Slams since Serena Williams in 2015, cantered to a straight sets, 6-3 6-4, victory in comfortable fashion on Court 1.
Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, was certainly a dangerous opponent for the Pole, but she simply could not match her intensity around the court when it mattered in a fairly one-sided encounter.
Swiatek no longer has to worry about the second-highest ranked player in her quarter of the draw after defending champion and No. 6 seed Marketa Vondrousova unexpectedly crashed out earlier in the day, but she said progress is all that matters for her at this stage.
“Honestly, on this surface it’s not about the result for me, it’s about the progress,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview.
“In terms of if I’m doing things better than last year, I’m not really looking at numbers or statistics, just trying to be better every day.
“Obviously, I had a great beginning of the season, so I feel like I can come here and kind of not worry about points or anything, just focus on what I want to focus on.”
Much has been made of Swiatek not having yet won a title at the All England Club, but she said her goals involve making some adjustments to her game on the surface.
“That was also one of the goals, to sometimes win kind of by serving and making pressure with that,” she said.
“I managed to do that on other surfaces. Hopefully, on this surface, it’s going to be also similar. Here it’s even more important to serve well the first serve.
“It seemed fine in practices, so I’m going to try it out in matches with some stress coming in and everything. Hopefully, this progress that I’ve made is going to pay off.
“It was a solid start and not an easy draw, so I’m happy that I have a chance to play another match here,” she continued.
“It’s not pretty easy to play a Grand Slam champion in the first round, so we have to be ready for everything.
“These are experienced players, so there’s no time to get into the tournament. I’m happy that I did that today.”
Swiatek will next take on the winner of Petra Martic and British wild card Francesca Jones in the second round.