Co-favorite Rafael Nadal and world number one Iga Swiatek each reached the third round of the lawn tennis tournament in Wimbledon with a set loss.
The 22-time Grand Slam winner Nadal from Spain prevailed on Center Court 6: 4, 6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 3 against the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis. Poland’s Swiatek defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove of the Netherlands 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 with unexpected difficulty and extended her impressive winning streak to 37 victories.
The Swiss Martina Hingis last celebrated so many victories in a row on the WTA tour in 1997. Legend Martina Navratilova holds the record with 74 successes.
In the fourth set, Nadal was not discouraged by a long break in the rain, during which the folding roof was extended over the largest stadium. The 36-year-old is now dealing with Italian Lorenzo Sonego. After the triumphs at the Australian Open and the French Open, Nadal still has the chance of his third Grand Slam title of the year.
Top favorite Swiatek now meets Alizé Cornet from France in the round of the top 32. Pattinama Kerkhove, who had only slipped into the main draw because another player had canceled, kept up surprisingly well. After being 2: 4 behind, French Open winner Swiatek won four games in a row at the end of the round. After losing the second set, Swiatek regained her sovereignty.
Previously, last year’s finalist Karolina Pliskova surprisingly dropped out in the second round. The sixth-seeded Czech lost to British Katie Boulter 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 4-6. This means that five of the ten best seeded players are no longer in the third round.
