Wimbledon: Iga Swiatek battles past Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove for 37th consecutive win
- Published
Swiatek made 31 unforced errors during her three-set victory over the 138th-ranked Pattinama Kerkhove
Wimbledon 2022 on the BBC |
|---|
Venue: All England Club Dates: 27 June-10 July |
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. |
Iga Swiatek battled her way to victory over Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove in the Wimbledon second round to extend her winning streak to 37 matches.
The Polish top seed, who has won her past six tournaments, broke three times to take the first set.
The lucky loser got back on level terms with a single break but Swiatek regrouped to seal a 6-4 4-6 6-3 win.
It moves the 21-year-old French Open champion level with Martina Hingis, who won 37 straight matches in 1997.
Swiatek, the 2018 junior Wimbledon champion, started slowly against her 138th-ranked opponent but bagged four straight games to take the opening set.
Dutchwoman Pattinama Kerkhove, who lost in the final round of qualifying but was granted a main draw berth when Danka Kovinic withdrew with injury, broke Swiatek in the seventh game of the second to gain a foothold.
While Swiatek made 31 unforced errors in a patchy display, she raced into a 4-1 lead in the decider before securing the win in two hours and four minutes.
The world number one will face France's Alize Cornet for a place in the last 16.
Kvitova sets up Badosa encounter
Petra Kvitova won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and 2014
Earlier, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova overcame a late wobble to set up a third-round encounter with fourth seed Paula Badosa.
The Czech had won 10 of the first 12 games and was leading 5-1 in the second set before Romania's Ana Bogdan won five games in a row.
Kvitova eventually stemmed the flow to take it to a tie-break, going on to win the match 6-1 7-6 (7-5), as Spaniard Badosa beat Romania's Irina Bara 6-3 6-2.
Kvitova, 32, is one of just three former champions left in the women's singles draw along with 2019 champion Simona Halep and 2018 winner Angelique Kerber.
Halep advanced with a 7-5 6-4 win over 2013 semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens with defeat drawing the curtain on the Belgian's singles career in emotional scenes on court two.
France's Harmony Tan, who stunned Serena Williams in the first round, continued her run with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spanish 32nd seed Sara Sorribes Tormo.
American 18-year-old Coco Gauff also advanced, with the 11th seed beating Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with compatriot Amanda Anisimova.
Wimbledon 2022: Watch Kirsten Flipkens produce best shot of day four at Wimbledon
Welcome aboard the £15bn railway: Go behind the scenes of the building project
'It's funny he had these insecurities': Paul McCartney remembers former bandmate John Lennon
