Wimbledon 2022: Iga Swiatek continues incredible streak with ease on the grass

Most of the time while history was being made she marched around Centre Court in brisk, businesslike fashion, head down but concealed by her cap in any case.

Poland's Iga Swiatek gets down to it in her first-round victory over Jana Fett of Croatia.

And even at end-changes the new world No 1 kept her eyes firmly closed, not permitting any distractions or indeed any real insight into what makes Iga Swiatek tick.

But that should be blindingly obvious in any case. It’s winning tennis matches. And yesterday the Pole made it 36 in a row, taking her clear of Venus Williams for the longest hot streak in the women’s game in the 21st century.

The famed forehand - so vicious in the first of Swiatek’s two French Open triumphs in 2020 that only one man, Jannik Sinner, hit the stroke faster - threatened to blow her opponent away. But qualifier Jana Fett of Croatia steadied in the second set and actually had five break points for a 4-1 lead before Swiatek grabbed back control to win 6-0, 6-3.

Wimbledon’s lawns had slowed up the new superstar of the women’s game but ultimately not by much. “This was my first match on grass this year so I knew it was going to be tricky,” Swiatek said. Would she rate herself comfortable on the surface? “It’s a new experience but pretty exciting so we’ll see.”

Triumphing at Wimbledon would also make it seven tournaments in a row, including her second Roland Garros title. Already she’s achieved a relentlessness that’s seen her likened to Serena Williams in the latter’s pomp, and she had the pulverising groundstrokes to match the American idol.

Swiatek last experienced that losing feeling way back in mid-February, before Russia invaded Ukraine - whose blue and yellow colours she sports on the side of that omnipresent cap - and when Boris Johnson’s woes might have merely been termed “considerable”.

On outstripping Venus’s winning run - and, close behind, that of Serena - Swietek stressed the sisters are legends; she’s not. “But it’s amazing for me to have that kind of streak. I didn’t know it was going to be possible for me to show that consistency but I’m really happy that I have and am trying to use it in the best way possible.”