Iga Swiatek did not take long to get her Wimbledon campaign off to a winning start as she shook off a recent illness to overcome China’s Zhu Lin.
The world No 1 is looking to add to the French Open and US Open titles she has won in the last 10 months and made a convincing start on Court One, winning 6-1, 6-3. Swiatek has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon, but signs are positive that this will be the year she has a proper crack at winning the title.
Zhu, ranked 34th in the world, was a tough first-round opponent on paper but proved was no match for the top seed, with a routine victory only slightly delayed by a rain shower that saw the roof on Court One closed.
Swiatek, who pulled out of a warm-up event at Bad Homburg due to a fever and possible food poisoning, told the BBC: “I wanted to see how today was going to go. I’m happy I had time to recover and before a Grand Slam you don’t want to risk being too fatigued. I feel like I am in the rhythm, so that’s all good.”
The fourth seed, Jessica Pegula, also made it through to the second round, but she was made to work hard against her fellow American Lauren Davis. After comfortably winning the opener, Pegula was pegged back only to regain control in the decider and seal a 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-3 victory.
The two-times US Open champion Victoria Azarenka also needed three sets to beat Yuan Yue 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova was the biggest early casualty in the women’s draw, the 15th seed losing 7-6 (1) ,7-6 (4) to Ana Bogdan.
Harriet Dart was the first British player to be knocked out as she lost in three sets to Frenchwoman Diane Parry, 6-7 (4), 6-0, 6-4.
“I felt pretty poor out there,” Dart admitted. “What’s amazing was I had a chance to win, playing not great tennis. I feel like I have so much to improve on. I’ve had a really good grass-court season. It’s just disappointing that my worst match came here.”