Iga Swiatek made a seamless switch from clay to grass to begin her Wimbledon with a 6-0, 6-3 thrashing of outclassed opponent Jana Fett for a second-round place on Tuesday.
The world No. 1 Pole won her 36th consecutive match – her debut move onto grass since winning the Roland Garros final three weeks ago.
“This is my first grass match this season,” the 20-year-old said. “I knew it would be tricky.
“In the second set I lost focus a bit and she used that well (going up a break).
“But I was happy to come back and finish in two sets. It’s exciting to implement all of the stuff we’ve been working on in training. It has clicked.”
The winner of six titles in a row this season who won six of her 10 break points added: “”I feel like I’ve only played 12 weeks of my life on grass, We’ll see if I’m comfortable.
“But all the tradition here is pumping me up, I’m motivated to play well.”
Fourth seed Paula Badosa needed just 56 minutes to move through as she crushed Louise Chirico 6-2, 6-1.
The win came after the Spaniard who got to the fourth round here a year ago lost her only pre-event grass match, going down in the Eastbourne first round.
Fifth seed Maria Sakkari showed the benefits of going all-out in the tournament run-up, with the Greek winning a match delayed by darkness from Monday to reach the second round.
Sakkari accounted for Australian qualifier Zoe Hives 6-1, 6-4 in 78 minutes and now faces a fast turnaround with her second round match coming in 24 hours.
“My first set was excellent, very solid,” the winner who played three tune-up tournaments said. “I had chances to close out earlier in the second set but I didn’t take them,
“I did a good job to wrap it up in the final game. The more grass you pay, the better you feel on it.”
The Greek said she feels something special at the event. “Wimbledon is Wimbledon. It’s the most special tournament of the year. There’s something very unique about it.
“I’m very motivated only by being here. It’s always an honor, no matter what ranking you have.”
There were opening victories for a pair of past Roland Garros champions as Latvian 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko (2017) and 13th-seeded Czech Barbora Krejcikova (2021) both moved through
The No. 14 seed Belinda Bencic managed to level the sets with China’s Wang Qiang, with the Swiss winning six straight games down a set and 5-1.
But Wang had the final word in the third set to advance 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in a match which began on Monday but was halted by darkness.
Victorija Golubic earned a Swiss victory as she beat German veteran Andrea Petkovic 6-4, 6-3 with four breaks of serve in 76 minutes.
Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann has yet to win a Wimbledon match after her third loss in the first round; she was defeated 6-2, 6-3 by Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.
2019 champion Simona Halep, the former No. 1 who now stands 18th, secured a clean 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Czech Karolina Muchova.
The Romanian winner notched her 27th victory of the season, following up on grass semi-finals at Birmingham and Bad Homburg this month.
Heather Watson earned a rare British victory, defeating German Tamara Korpatsch 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-2 while US 11th seed Coco Gauff beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania in a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 comeback.
