Fresh off Wimbledon title, Swiatek gets straight to business in Montreal
After Iga Swiatek swept to the Wimbledon title, she admitted the breakthrough was so far-fetched she never even dreamed of it happening.
“Because it seemed so far away,” Swiatek said afterward. “I feel like I am already an experienced player, having won Slams before, but I never expected to win this one.”
Now that she’s checked that elusive box, this question looms: Is there anything she can’t do?
The most recent confirmation that Swiatek is again in the midst of a dangerous groove came Wednesday afternoon in Montreal when she defeated qualifier Guo Hanyu 6-3, 6-1 in a second-round match at the Omnium Banque Nationale.
Let the record show that when she won the opening four games, Swiatek ran her staggering total of consecutive games to 24. How is that possible? She won the last two games of the first set in the Wimbledon semifinal against Belinda Bencic before closing out the second set 6-0. And then threw down a perfect 6-0, 6-0 against Amanda Anisimova in the final.
Swiatek won her 63rd consecutive WTA Tour opening match, something that hasn’t happened since Monica Seles won 64 straight between 1990-96.
So, to review, when Guo broke her serve in the fifth game, Swiatek lost her first game in 20 days -- which, of course, included a seaside vacation. Next for the No. 2 seed is the winner of the later match between No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Eva Lys on Friday.
Guo, a 27-year-old from China, is a formidable doubles player, with two titles this year (Bad Homburg and Adelaide) with partner Alexandra Panova. Guo began the year at No. 538 in the rankings but managed to win one qualifying match in Montreal.
Her 6-3, 6-3 first-round win over Yulia Putintseva was Guo’s first-career main-draw win at the WTA level. She was, predictably, no match for Swiatek.
Swiatek broke Guo’s serve six of eight times, improving the Hologic WTA Tour’s highest percentage of winning return games to 47 -- 102 of 221. Swiatek’s career record against players ranked outside the Top 200 is now 21-1.
Aryna Sabalenka has been the No. 1-ranked player for 41 consecutive weeks and counting. But the Wimbledon result suggested that Swiatek -- after a difficult year when she changed coaches and served a brief suspension -- is ready to challenge her again. Swiatek was No. 1 for 125 weeks, already the seventh highest total since the rankings were instituted 50 years ago.
At Wimbledon, Swiatek made a conscious effort to be more aggressive, pumping up her serve, taking more risks and flattening out her groundstrokes. Will that trend continue on hard courts?
Swiatek’s best effort in Canada came two years ago in the semifinals in Montreal. She lost there to eventual champion Jessica Pegula. The Canadian Open and Cincinnati are the only two WTA 1000s in which Swiatek has failed to reach the final.
Based on recent returns, that might be about to change.