Just another powerful day at the office for Swiatek
World No 1 Iga Swiatek recovered from a dip in her level in the second set to see off Croatian qualifier Jana Fett 6-0, 6-3 at Wimbledon yesterday to extend her winning run to 36 matches.
The 2018 junior champion, who exited the grass-court grand slam in the fourth round last year, had the honour of opening the second day’s play on Centre Court in the absence of retired Ashleigh Barty who won last year’s title.
Despite a stiff breeze swirling through the main show court, Poland’s Swiatek powered through the opening set without losing a game – registering a 6-0 set for the 17th time this year.
But problems with her delivery started early in the second set as the 25-year-old Fett, ranked 252 in the world, built up a 3-1 lead. Swiatek, however, quickly regained her focus to win the next five games.
A powerful first serve helped Swiatek seal victory on her first match point.
China’s Zhang Shuai beat Misaki Doi of Japan 6-4, 6-0 and Wang Qiang overcame Belinda Bencic 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 but Zhu Lin lost to Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-4, 6-2.
Three-time grand slam men’s semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov retired from his first-round match against American opponent Steve Johnson after having a medical evaluation of his leg.
The 18th-seeded Dimitrov won the first set 6-4 and was trailing 5-2 in the second when the Bulgarian stopped playing.
Matteo Berrettini, last year’s runner-up at Wimbledon, dropped out of the tournament hours before he was set to play his first-round match, saying he had tested positive for Covid-19.
The All England Club announced Berrettini’s withdrawal, and he posted about it on Instagram, saying that he was “heartbroken” and had been isolating “the last few days”.
He was the second highprofile player to pull out of the draw within the first two days because of Covid-19.
He joined 2014 US Open champion and 2017 Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic, who was seeded 14th, in testing positive to the virus.
The men’s bracket was already without five of the top 11 in the ATP rankings: No 1 Daniil Medvedev with the ban on Russians, No 2 Alexander Zverev out after ankle surgery, No 8 Andrey Rublev in the ban on Russians, No 10 Hubert Hurkacz who lost on Monday and No 11 Berrettini.