Swiatek steps up hunt for maiden Wimbledon title
Top seed Iga Swiatek continued her pursuit of a maiden Wimbledon title with victory on Centre Court against Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
Swiatek, 22, took a comprehensive 6-2 6-0 victory to move into the third round.
The Pole has never managed to go beyond the fourth round on the SW19 grass but has looked in superb form this week.
“I feel confident which doesn’t happen often at Wimbledon,” Swiatek said after the win.
“This is the first year where I feel I learned a lot and can adjust my game to the grass. I’m getting there!
“In the future, this can be my tournament, but you have to work hard because there’s not much time to practise on grass.”
Swiatek added: “Every year it will be a bit easier. This year I feel really confident so that’s great.”
A favourite for the title with some, Swiatek had faced one of the highest-ranked players she could in the opening round – 34th-ranked Zhu Lin. She dropped just four games in that contest, and victory here against a player ranked 50 places lower than Zhu was even more comfortable.
Since lifting her fourth major title at Roland Garros last month, Swiatek has been working on her grass-court game and reached the semi-finals of a warm-up event in Germany last week.
The three-time French Open champion exchanged early breaks of serve with Sorribes Tormo, but after breaking the Spaniard for 3-1 she looked in control and secured the opener with her second set point.
A double-break in the second set, sealed with a thumping backhand winner, effectively spelled the end for Sorribes Tormo and Swiatek went on to punish her opponent further with a stunning forehand to tie up a second-set bagel.
Elsewhere, Greek eighth seed Maria Sakkari followed American Coco Gauff as the second top-10 casualty of the championships, with world number 36 Marta Kostyuk making a remarkable comeback to win 0-6 7-5 6-2.
Sakkari looked in total control in the opening set, but following disruptions to play after multiple rain delays her Ukrainian opponent returned to court a different player.
Meanwhile, former world number two Anett Kontaveit secured a 6-4 6-4 victory over Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini, prolonging her career for at least another match after she announced she would retire after Wimbledon.