“I don’t feel like I need to prove anything” – Swiatek stretches streak to 21 with win over Martic at Wimbledon

World No 1 Iga Swiatek. All she does is win.

The five-time major champion extended her winning streak to 21 on Thursday with a victory over Croatia’s Petra Martic on Centre Court, setting up a third-round clash with Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.

It was another affirming effort for the 23-year-old. She continued to be effective behind her improved serve, winning 29 of 35 first-serve points (83 percent) and never facing a break point against Martic.

Swiatek was pleased with her performance overall, and says that if she continues to work and make progress with her grass-court game, the results will come.

“I think I’m serving much better than in previous years, and this is for sure helpful,” she said. “I feel like I am doing 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.”

Progress before stats

Swiatek, who has never been beyond the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, has now won nine of her last ten matches on grass dating back to the start of 2023.

“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.”

Swiatek hit 25 winners against 19 unforced errors, and broke serve twice from three attempts to improve to 11-4 at Wimbledon and 45-4 on the season.

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The Pole won against American Sofia Kenin (6-3, 6-4) in the previous round of The Championships.

During the first round of The Championships, Martic, ranked No 85, won against wildcard Francesca Jones (3-6, 6-1, 6-2).

London (Grand Slam), other second-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 50.000.000, most recent results first):

• Elina Avanesyan vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Caroline Wozniacki vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Elena Rybakina vs. Laura Siegemund: thursday
• Bernarda Pera beat Caroline Garcia (23): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Elina Svitolina (21) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-3, 6-4
• Danielle Collins (11) beat Dalma Galfi (Q): 6-3, 6-4
• Jelena Ostapenko (13) beat Daria Snigur (Q): 6-3, 6-0
• Ons Jabeur (10) beat Robin Montgomery (Q): 6-1, 7-5
• Anna Kalinskaya (17) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-4, 6-1
• Xinyu Wang beat Jessica Pegula (5): 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1
• Harriet Dart beat Katie Boulter (32): 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8)
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (20) beat Camila Osorio: 3-0 ret.
• Madison Keys (12) beat Yafan Wang: 6-2, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk (18) beat Daria Saville: 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Daria Kasatkina (14) beat Yuriko Lily Miyazaki (WC): 6-0, 6-0
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro beat Cristina Bucsa: 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Yulia Putintseva beat Katerina Siniakova (27): 6-0, 4-6, 6-2
• Paula Badosa beat Brenda Fruhvirtova: 6-4, 6-2
• Barbora Krejcikova (31) beat Katie Volynets (Q): 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5)
• Jasmine Paolini (7) beat Greet Minnen: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Dayana Yastremska (28) beat Varvara Gracheva: 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
• Lulu Sun (Q) beat Yulia Starodubtseva (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Donna Vekic beat Erika Andreeva (LL): 6-2, 6-3
• Lin Zhu beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (25): 6-4, 6-3
• Emma Navarro (19) beat Naomi Osaka (WC): 6-4, 6-1
• Maria Sakkari (9) beat Arantxa Rus: 7-5, 6-3
• Diana Shnaider beat Sloane Stephens: 6-1, 6-1
• Emma Raducanu (WC) beat Elise Mertens: 6-1, 6-2
• Bianca Andreescu beat Linda Noskova (26): 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Coco Gauff (2) beat Anca Todoni (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Sonay Kartal (Q) beat Clara Burel: 6-3, 5-7, 6-3