Iga Swiatek downs Jana Fett to snatch the LONGEST win streak in women’s singles tennis this century

Iga Swiatek might just be the most reliable train in Britain at this moment. 

With a 36th straight win carrying her into Wimbledon’s second round, the question is what it will take for this immense streak to end.

Granted, these are grass courts, not clay. And this is women’s tennis, which is no place to hunt for certainties.

But Swiatek, the world No 1 on a roll of six consecutive tournament victories, is fast becoming one of the great bankers in sport, even if her 6-0, 6-3 win over Jana Fett was perhaps not as smooth as it sounds.

The first set was a blitz – the numbers are clear on that. But it was the second, which briefly had the peril of a 1-3, 0-40 deficit, that pointed to the 21-year-old’s sporadic discomforts. 

Within it, there were enough mistimed ground strokes and soft serves to at least raise the issue of whether she will reach the same untouchable levels on grass.

The Croatian and world No 252 fought back in the second to win three games against Swiatek

But that might just be wishful thinking for a good competition, because on form Swiatek has no equals. 

Indeed, Fett, aged 25 and the world No 252, came into this match with fewer Tour-level wins in her career – 16 – than the 42 her Polish opponent has accumulated in the first half of 2022 alone. 

Her streak of 36 is now the second best on record since 1990, with only Martina Hingis’s run of 37 in 1997 better. An astonishing body of work.

‘It is my first grass match this season so I am happy,’ said Swiatek, a junior winner here who has never gone beyond the last 16 as a senior. 

‘Fett has done pretty well and I am gearing up and trying to figure it out. It is exciting, a new experience for me.’

The Polish athlete is bidding for her first Wimbledon title after winning the 2022 French Open

True to all predictions, it was a bruising gig for Fett, or rather it was in the opening set. Swiatek took Fett’s very first service game for 2-0, helped by a pair of double faults, and then broke again to go four clear. 

Fett’s serve was hopelessly lost in the breeze and the occasion, but the bigger factor was the dominant force at the other end. Swiatek was simply far too good, even in the low gears.

A third break came at 5-0, with the set done after barely half an hour. By its close, Fett had given up a full 14 unforced errors and five double faults to the best player in the world – tight ropes are hard enough to walk at the best of time, let alone on one leg.

For her part, Swiatek was steady if not spectacular. There were glimpses of that big winding forehand, modelled on Rafael Nadal’s stroke, but like her hero, she will need to find a way to best utilise it on the lower bounces of a grass court.

She claimed her 36th successive win to hold the longest streak in women’s singles this century

That much was illustrated in the second set, when her difficulties in timing were magnified by a marked lift in Fett’s game. 

The Croatian broke immediately, which was something of a surprise, and then was broken back in the next, which wasn’t. The plot twist came when Fett then broke again before holding, opening a 3-1 lead. 

She quickly moved to 0-40 on the Swiatek serve, but failed with each chance and then a further two, allowing Swiatek to wiggle free. 

A potential 4-1 lead with a double break became 3-2 on serve, and in a blink it was 5-3 to Swiatek. She served it out and on she goes.