Top seed Iga Swiatek powers past Zhu Lin to launch Wimbledon title quest

LONDON – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek cruised into the Wimbledon second round with a 6-1, 6-3 mauling of China’s Zhu Lin on Monday in a fine start to her hunt for a first Grand Slam title on grass.

The 22-year-old Pole, who

won the French Open title for the third time

in June to make it four Grand Slam crowns, has yet to get past the fourth round of the London Major.

Swiatek looked good in her movement on the surface and showed no sign of the illness that had ruled her out of her Bad Homburg semi-final on Friday.

“I felt really confident. I felt like I did a very good job,” said Swiatek, a former junior champion at Wimbledon.

“I feel really good after Roland Garros (French Open). After Roland Garros, I took some time to appreciate what happened.

“Last year, it was my second Grand Slam (at the French Open) and it felt overwhelming. This time I could focus on celebrating and actually at getting back to work with more peace in my head.”

Zhu, ranked 34th in the world, earned a break point in the first game but Swiatek won 11 points in a row to sprint into a 3-0 lead.

Another break put Swiatek, a renowned slider on clay and hard courts but has often struggled with her movement on grass, firmly in the driver’s seat.

Zhu saved two set points at 5-0, but Swiatek sealed the first set a game later with a powerful cross-court forehand winner.

The pair traded breaks early in the second before Swiatek earned a second one and was 4-3 up when play was interrupted due to rain.

It resumed after the roof on Court One was shut, but Swiatek required only seven minutes to win the two games she needed and sealed victory with a backhand winner.

American fourth seed Jessica Pegula also moved into the second round of Wimbledon with a hard-fought 6-2, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3 win over compatriot Lauren Davis.

Neither player looked entirely comfortable on the Court Two lawn, each making more than 30 unforced errors in total.

But Pegula got the crucial break in the decider to lead 5-3 when Davis hit a backhand into the net.

The world No. 4 closed out the match with a high backhand volley to advance to the second round, where she will face Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.

“Definitely a tough match. I think Lauren is a good grass-court player. Obviously, she’s had great results here before, beating (Angelique) Kerber a few years ago,” said Pegula.

“I hit kind of flat so it stays low for her, especially on the grass. It was very windy, so it was hard to really feel like you could get any momentum going because then you’d have the wind gusting. It would kind of keep you off balance and unstable.”

In the men’s draw, Novak Djokovic, seeking an eighth All England crown to match Roger Federer’s men’s record, eased past Argentina’s Pedro Cachin 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

The Serb, who has won the last four Wimbledon editions, saw his match disrupted for an hour due to rain. Despite the covers coming on to Centre Court, the surface was still damp during the lengthy delay.

It led to comical scenes as Djokovic tried to dry the grass with his towel, even joking with the crowd: “Blow, we need your help.”

He said after the win: “It was definitely frustrating with the delay, the conditions were not great, it was quite slippery.”

Djokovic, who has not lost on Centre Court since the 2013 final to Andy Murray, added: “What a second home to have. Coming here was always the dream, winning it was a childhood dream. I try to not take any minute standing on the court for granted.”

Andrey Rublev, the 25-year-old seventh seed, looked impressive on a breezy Court Three as he posted a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Australia’s Max Purcell.

Rublev is one of 17 Russian and Belarusian players in the men and women’s singles draws after they were banned in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.

He was joined by Belarusian former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka as the women’s 19th seed edged past China’s Yuan Yue 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

There was also a win for Russian 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova, who beat Estonian veteran Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. REUTERS