Five-time Wimbledon Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek started her 2025 Wimbledon campaign in dominant fashion on Tuesday, upsetting Polina Kudermetova 7-5, 6-1 on the All England Club's grass courts to reach the second round.
The 24-year-old Polish sensation, ranked No. 4 in the WTA rankings at present, is a four-time winner of the French Open and one-time US Open champion. Although she has dominated on clay courts, Wimbledon has always been a bigger test of her, with her best effort being a quarterfinal appearance in 2023.
That was also her best showing on grass on the WTA Tour that year.
This year, Swiatek came to Wimbledon having reached the Bad Homburg, Germany, final—her first WTA final since winning in Paris a year earlier. That effort built momentum heading into her return to London.
Her win over Kudermetova was also a remarkable milestone: her 61st consecutive opening-round victory, the longest opening-round winning streak by any woman in this century.
Swiatek will next play American Caty McNally, who qualified with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over British wildcard Jodie Burrage. Their second-round encounter will take place on Thursday.
Swiatek's Wimbledon record is currently 12-5 (.706 winning percentage)–a good record, admittedly somewhat overshadowed by her dominance on clay. Though she has played consistently well there, Swiatek has frequently professed modesty regarding her skill on grass.
Looking back at her semifinal win against Jasmine Paolini in Bad Homburg, she mentioned, "It for sure gave me a lot of confidence. Obviously, it's tennis, so every day is different, but I felt like I was playing great. I really pushed Jasmine the way I wanted to. I had a really great time in Bad Homburg and enjoyed it.". Yes, and also getting a bit more time to practice beforehand on grass was really helpful. I think that I have a bit of more skills."
Although Paolini had a serious run at Wimbledon in 2022, she is not among the favorite choices for the title in this year's season. Swiatek, second only to Aryna Sabalenka on the betting markets, is considered a better title threat than both 2022 title winner Elena Rybakina and new French Open champion Coco Gauff.
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