Iga Swiatek reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for the second time after seeing off Clara Tauson with her latest dominant performance on Monday evening.
The world No. 4 steamrolled 23rd seed Tauson 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and five minutes on No. 1 Court at the All England Club.
Swiatek made a nervous start and fell 1-3 behind after she was broken in each of her first two service games. From that point, Swiatek was imperious as she won 11 of the next 13 games to storm to victory over the 22-year-old Dane.
The five-time Grand Slam champion won 92% of points behind her first serve and hit 18 winners to 16 unforced errors (12 to five in the second set).
In her on-court interview, the Pole said: “Even though the beginning was pretty shaky with the double faults, I managed to play well and solid.
“I’m not sure if Clara felt well, she said at the net she was sick so hopefully she’s gonna have a good recovery, a fast one. But overall, it’s never easy to like keep your focus.
“I also sometimes felt when I wasn’t feeling well that I just let go of everything and sometimes it gives you like a boost, so I just tried to be ready for anything.”
On her run so far, Swiatek added: “It’s pretty amazing. The first time I really enjoy London. I mean, sorry guys. I always loved it (laughs).
“But you know, we’re tennis players, so we kind of feel well off the court when we feel good on the court. So this year, for sure, I feel like I can just play my game and hopefully it’s gonna last as long as possible.”
Having made the semi-finals at both the Australian Open and the French Open this year, Swiatek’s quarter-final run at Wimbledon means she has reached at least the last eight at the first three majors of the season for the first time.
The 24-year-old is the youngest woman to progress to the quarter-final stage at Grand Slams on 12 occasions since tennis great Maria Sharapova in 2008.
Asked about this statistic in her press conference, Swiatek said: “As I said, every match different stat. I don’t even know how to answer that. I’m just happy that I’m so consistent and I could achieve it so early because for sure it’s a dream come true.
“I never thought I would even be able to do that, like, twice, not to mention like 12 times. Yeah, pretty proud of myself. It’s a great way to start (smiling).”
In her press conference, Tauson made a big statement about Swiatek’s level.
“I played against one of the best players in the world, and I’m not feeling so good today,” declared the Dane.
“Yeah, I couldn’t really breathe, and then it’s really hard to play against Iga. Yeah, I mean, if you want to beat Iga, you have to be 110%. Today I was probably around 30 and not feeling so great. Yeah, I mean, she was a bit nervous in the beginning I think.
“But as soon as she wasn’t nervous anymore, I think I couldn’t follow my legs, and my head was not there. She’s probably impossible to beat.”
Elsewhere, seventh seed Mirra Andreeva defeated tenth seed Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-3 and Swiss Star Belinda Bencic upset 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
