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Swiatek sweeps into third round but Sakkari falls

3 minute read

French Open champion Iga Swiatek has eased into Wimbledon's third round, but top-10 seed Maria Sakkari, newly coached by Aussie Mark Philippoussis, is out.

Iga Swiatek.
Iga Swiatek. Picture: AAP Image

Iga Swiatek is no fan of grass-court tennis, but the women's top seed admitted she is beginning to come to terms with it after cruising into the third round at Wimbledon.

The four-time grand slam champ has picked up her previous majors on French clay and the US hard courts, having failed to go beyond the fourth round in London.

But after crushing Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 6-0 on Wednesday, the world No.1 said, "I can adjust my game now to grass courts. I'm getting there.

"I always feel like every year will give me more experience. I have played well here in juniors. In the future it could be my tournament.

"Every year, it will be easier to play here. I feel really confident which is great."

The Pole dropped serve early, having already broken her opponent, but moved through the gears in what was her first match on Centre Court.

Once the 22-year-old found her range with her powerful forehand she was unstoppable and has now dropped just six games in her opening two matches.

With rain having turned the schedule into a jigsaw puzzle, Swiatek was into the third round while others were still trying to negotiate the first.

One who failed to do so was the No.8 seed, Maria Sakkari.

The Greek, who now has Australia's former Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis in her coaching team, lost to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk despite winning the first set 6-0.

Her momentum was maybe stalled by a trio of rain interventions as she lost the next two sets 7-5 6-2.

"Every time I was going into a rain break I was going into different emotions," said 21-year-old Kostyuk, who was also emotional several times during the match.

"I was crying during the breaks. I tried to figure out what was happening. I tried to come back into the match. It was not easy.

"I just tried to fight and want to say thank you to my team."

Another seed KO'd was Karolina Pliskova (18) who went down 6-2 6-3 to Serb Natalija Stevanovic, while American world No.27 Bernarda Pera was beaten 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-3 by Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova.

Two-time champion Petra Kvitova booked her spot in round two with a 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 win over Italy's Jasmine Paolini.

The duo also met at last year's championships when the Czech ninth seed was victorious in another three-setter.

"She always makes it very hard for me," 33-year-old Kvitova said.

"It's never easy to play the beginning of the tournament, especially here when I've been moved to the Centre Court, it's always a little bit different.

"But thank you roof, for holding it up for me today."

This year's French Open semi-finalist Beatriz Haddad Maia and 2017 major winners Sloane Stephens and Jelena Ostapenko progressed, as did seeds Donna Vekic, Anastasia Potapova and Ekatarina Alexandrova.

Former French Open champ and No.10 seed Barbora Krejcikova put away Heather Watson 6-2 7-5, while 11th-seeded Daria Kasatkina demolished another Brit Jodie Burrage 6-0 6-2.

With agencies.

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