By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday July 4, 2024
Iga Swiatek eased past Petra Martic in straight sets to book a third-round clash with Yulia Putintseva at Wimbledon.
Photo Source: Getty
Iga Swiatek isn’t known as a grass-court guru, but the top-seeded Pole could flick that narrative into the open court like one of her trademark forehand winners with a run to the Wimbledon title over the next two week’s at Wimbledon.
The 23-year-old five-time Grand Slam champion took another step in that direction on Thursday, easing past Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-4, 6-3 to book a third-round clash with Yulia Putintseva. She did it behind a stellar serving performance that saw her win 83 percent of her first-serve points (key stat alert!) and never face a break point.
Grass may not be her jazz, but the woman who is rocking the Rolling Stones in her headphones as she walks onto Centre Court this year is laying back a solid backbeat on the slippery stuff with improved serving and more comfort and confidence from the baseline.
“I think I’m serving much better than in previous years, and this is for sure helpful,” she said. “I feel like I am making progress [on grass], especially on the practice court. Now my goal is to implement it in matches and I feel like it should be easier and easier in every match, but I have really low expectations, I’m just focusing on the work, and the results will come after.”
It all adds up to nine wins from her last ten grass-court matches, dating back to 2023, and a player that believes – and is playing like – her time may be coming at Wimbledon.
Swiatek stretched her current winning streak to 21 with the victory, but says she is not thinking about that stat at all. She carried a 37-match winning streak into the third round at Wimbledon in 2022, and ended up falling prey to Alizé Cornet. Last year she reached the quarterfinals but couldn’t get past feisty Elina Svitolina.
In 2024, Swiatek is focused on her game and on making steady progress – nothing more.
“It’s not the first time that I’m going into this tournament with a streak,” Swiatek said. “It’s not that easy having this kind of baggage on your shoulders but this year it feels different because I don’t feel like everybody is focusing on it.
“I’m playing on a different surface, I have different challenges here and I’m focusing on them and not the statistics. I want to get better here, on grass, so that’s my main goal – I don’t feel like I need to prove anything because it’s a totally different story. I’m starting with a blank space and just going with it.”
Much has been made of Swiatek’s difficult draw, which started with a battle of Grand Slam champions in the first round. She defeated Sofia Kenin in straight sets, and now the crafty Petra Martic has been her second victim.
It promises to get tougher from here, with Putintseva, a hard-nosed player who excels on grass (and won a title on it in Birmingham) this summer, in the third round, and potentially Jelena Ostapenko – whom Swiatek has never defeated in four previous tries – in the round of 16.
If she passes those tests, Elena Rybakina is lurking in her half of the draw as well, as a potential semifinal opponent.
It won’t be easy, but as we watch Swiatek steadily improve on a surface that has plagued her at times in the past, we can see it’s possible.
Bring on the challenges…