Swiatek extends win streak to 20 with victory against Kenin at Wimbledon

Coming off her fourth Roland Garros title in five years, Iga Swiatek elected to make the transition from red clay without a grass preparatory tournament.

“I guess it comes down more to the mental side, I would say,” she told reporters before Wimbledon began. “How you’re going to be able to adjust to this surface. The player that does it better is going to win.”

On Tuesday that player was Swiatek, for mental strength might just be the World No.1’s greatest superpower. In a meeting of Grand Slam champions, she defeated Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match.

How relaxed and comfortable was this victory? When Kenin left Centre Court after the first set, Swiatek took advantage of the extra time and hit some practice serves.

Wimbledon 2024: Scores | Draws | Order of play

And so, all the streaks she started in a dominant run through the clay season are intact. Swiatek has now won 20 consecutive matches, a string that includes titles in Madrid, Rome and Paris -- and 44 matches overall this year, more than any other WTA player.

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Since the turn of this century, she’s 18-0 in first-round matches at majors and has compiled 72 Grand Slam singles wins, the most of any woman. She’s also won five straight matches against former major champions.

Kenin, a solid, consistent striker of the ball, was a good opponent for Swiatek’s first match on grass in 2024. Kenin doesn’t have any overpowering weapons, and Swiatek was able to gauge the pace on grass and settle into the match. 

“Honestly, on this surface it’s not about the result for me, about the progress,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “In terms of if I’m doing things better than last year. I’m not really looking at numbers or statistics, just trying to be better every day.

“Obviously, I had a great beginning of the season so I feel like I can come here and kind of not worry about points or anything, yeah, just focus on what I want to focus on.”

Kenin had been looking to tap into some daring de ja vu. In last year’s first round, she stunned No.7-ranked Coco Gauff in three sets.

With the roof closed because of rain, Swiatek broke Kenin in her first two service games and had little trouble finishing her off in the first. Swiatek served particularly well -- something she’s been working on -- and was helped by Kenin’s defiant decision to return second offerings standing several feet inside the baseline. Swiatek won eight of 15 second serves in that frame.

“That was also one of the goals, to sometimes win kind of by serving and making pressure with that,” Swiatek said. “I managed to do that on other surfaces. Hopefully on this surface, it’s going to be also similar. Here it’s even more important to serve well the first serve. It seemed fine on practices, so I’m going to try it out on matches with some stress coming in and everything.

“Hopefully this progress that I’ve made is going to pay off.”

Down 4-3, Kenin had an opportunity to break Swiatek in the second set, but a forehand into the net on break point and a poor second-serve return did her in.

For the match, Swiatek scored three breaks of serve, the critical one coming in the seventh game of the second set. Serving, she won 41 of 57 points and stroked six aces.

This was an encouraging start for Swiatek. Her record on grass improves to 14-7 -- and 10-4 at Wimbledon. She could become the youngest player since Serena Williams (2002) to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same season and the first to win back-to-back Slams since serena in 2015.

But first, there’s the matter of the second round. Next up is Petra Martic.

With the loss earlier Tuesday by defending champion and No.6 seed Marketa Vondrousova, Swiatek now does not have to deal with the second-highest-ranked player in her quarter of the bracket. 

“It was a solid start and not an easy draw, so I’m happy that I have a chance to play another match here,” Swiatek said. “It’s not pretty easy to play a Grand Slam champion in the first round, so we have to be ready for everything.

"These are experienced players, so there’s no time to get into the tournament. I’m happy that I did that today."