As she made her way off Centre Court after what was only her third main draw appearance at a grand slam, Jana Fett momentarily lost her way. Iga Swiatek will know how the Croatian qualifier felt.
The record books will show that Swiatek, the world No 1 and title favourite, romped to victory in an hour and 15 minutes for the loss of just three games, winning her 36th match in a row to eclipse Venus Williams as the holder of the longest unbeaten streak this century. The reality, however, was a little different.
For a set, Swiatek was imperious, an early foot fault the only significant blot on a copybook crammed with powerful whipped forehands, quicksilver movement and relentless aggression. There were occasional signs of rust – the odd mishit, a couple of double faults – but that was perhaps not unexpected, given that Swiatek has not played a competitive match since beating Coco Gauff to claim her second grand slam title at the French Open three weeks ago.
As Fett stuttered and stumbled her way to a first-set whitewash, winning a paltry 19% of her second serve points, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for the 25-year-old. Yet the Croatian, perhaps best known for her role in Caroline Wozniacki’s Australian Open victory in 2018, when she blew a pair of match points against the Dane in the second round, is a far better player than her world ranking of 252 would suggest. Twice in her three qualifying matches Fett came from a set down to win, and when Swiatek began the second set with four successive unforced errors, finally enabling her to relax a little, she belatedly began to show.
Perversely, Fett’s first move was to gift back the advantage with an error-strewn service game. But a combination of some fine returning and a couple of loose errors from Swiatek immediately earned her a second break and, as the Pole’s mistakes continued, Fett consolidated her lead to go 3-1 ahead. The natural expectation was that Swiatek would shake off her torpor post-haste. Instead, Fett conjured another flurry of excellent returns to go 0-40 up on the Pole’s serve, and what had seemed a minor blip suddenly threatened to become something altogether more significant.
Now Swiatek showed her mettle, working her way back to deuce before surviving a further two break points as Fett twice chipped tamely into the net. With the hold secure, Swiatek was never again in danger, reeling off the final five games to complete a 6-0, 6-3 victory, but she knew she had been in a match.
“I’m just really happy that I made it through, because the first rounds are always tricky, especially if it’s my first match on grass,” said Swiatek, whose 36th straight victory draws her level with the landmark set by Monica Seles in 1990.
Should she win her next match against Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, a Dutch qualifier ranked 138th, Swiatek will equal the 37-match winning streak recorded by Martina Hingis in 1997, before she was finally defeated by Iva Majoli in the French Open final.
“It’s amazing for me to have that kind of streak, and it just shows how much work we’ve been putting [in] for every match,” said Swiatek.
“I’m pretty happy that I could show consistency, because it was always my goal. I didn’t know it was going to be possible for me to show that much consistency and actually to win tournaments. But I’m just really happy, and I’m trying to use it the best way possible.”
Former champion Simona Halep, who some felt should have opened proceedings on Centre Court after missing out last year due to injury, came through 6-3, 6-2 against Karolina Muchova. Halep, the 16th seed, will play Kirsten Flipkens after the experienced Belgian saw off Jaimee Fourlis of Australia 7-5, 6-2.
Another former winner, Petra Kvitova, survived an early scare against Jasmine Paolini of Italy. The Czech, champion in 2011 and 2014, bounced back to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in her first outing since claiming the Eastbourne title at the weekend.
A week after she was beaten by British wildcard Jodie Burrage at Devonshire Park, fourth seed Paula Badosa made an emphatic start to her Wimbledon campaign, dismissing American qualifier Louisa Chirico 6-2, 6-1.