World No. 1 Iga Swiatek extended her historic winning streak to 36 matches Tuesday, taking a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Jana Fett in the first round at Wimbledon.
In doing so, she broke her tie with Venus Williams, who had held the record for the most consecutive wins since 2000. Williams won 35 straight matches and six straight titles that year.
The last player to win 36 matches or more in a row was Martina Hingis in 1997. With one more win she could tie Hingis, who won 37 consecutive matches. The longest ever winning streak in women’s tennis belongs to Martina Navratilova, who won 74 straight matches in 1984.
3️⃣ different surfaces. 6️⃣ trophies in a row.🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek continues to make history 🙌 pic.twitter.com/PsP3jpVQta— wta (@WTA) June 28, 2022
3️⃣ different surfaces. 6️⃣ trophies in a row.🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek continues to make history 🙌 pic.twitter.com/PsP3jpVQta
Swiatek trailed 1-3 in the second set Tuesday before throwing down the next four games to secure the straight-set win. She admitted she lost her focus in the second set, which Fett utilized to her advantage.
Swiatek added that while she doesn’t have as much experience on grass – just 12 weeks total in her career – she’s “motivated to play well” at Wimbledon.
“I’m figuring out how to play here,” said Swiatek, whose career-best finish at Wimbledon came in a run to the fourth round last year.
But while the world No. 1 is confident in her game, she admitted that she wished she had an opportunity to play against defending Wimbledon champion Ash Barty, who retired following an Australian Open win to start this year.
“I’m pretty sad Ash isn’t here because I would love to play against her on grass,” Swiatek said.