Swiatek, Halep Tested At Wimbledon, Boulter Plucks Pliskova; Kerber, Jabeur Favorites

Iga Swiatek had one of her toughest matches during this quarter century-best win streak. The world No. 1 figured to have an easy afternoon with lucky loser Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, but the 138th-ranked player put a scare into Swiatek taking a set before falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Swiatek was down a break in the first set as well but had control in the third thanks to an early break.

“For sure my confidence, I build it during this season,” Swiatek said. “It’s getting better and better on every tournament.

“I would say the grass is pretty tricky for me, I’m not going to lie. I guess you can see that I’m not playing maybe as efficiently as on other surfaces. Basically my confidence is getting better overall. But this tournament is tricky and I’m still feeling out how to play the best game here.”

Swiatek has now won her last 37 matches, the longest streak on the women’s tour since Martina Hingis’s 37 in 1997.

Alize Cornet, who once stunned Serena Williams at Wimbledon, will be next for Swiatek on Saturday.

Former champions Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep kept pace with Swiatek who could be their semifinal foe.

Kvitova blew a 5-1 lead in the second but prevailed in a 6-1, 7-6(5) victory over Anna Bogdon.

Halep rallied from a break down in both sets to defeat Kirsten Flipkens 7-5, 6-4. The Belgian, a Wimbledon semifinalist in 2013, led 5-2 in the first and 4-1 in the second. This is the 36-year-old former Top 15 Flipkens farewell event. She’s still in the doubles.

“I was enjoying myself on court from first ball until the last, and it was a special feeling going out there. Then, yeah, was a tough one to handle,” Flipkens said.

“To be playing a great champion like Simona for my last match, on a court like that with a crowd like that, I would have signed for that before.”

Halep will now meet Magdelena Frech final while Kvitova will take on Paula Badosa who has dropped just eight games thus far.

Elena Rybakina upended former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu. Harmony Tan backed up her big win over Serena Williams with a straight set win over Sara Sorribes Tormo.

The Frenchwoman might get back on a showcourt in the next round because it’s Katie Boulter in the third round. The 25-year-old Boulter beat Karolina Pliskova for the second straight week upsetting the 2021 finalist 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach her very first Grand Slam third round.

“It’s easy to say I believe I can win this match. But to have actually gone out and done it a week before, it does make the difference,” Boulter said. “I think that’s also why when I played an OK first set, she picked up her game a lot, I felt like I went through that last week. I just needed to stay with her and stay on serve especially in the second set. I did that again in Eastbourne. I managed to get a chance.

I feel like I got that chance again today.”

Young Americans Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff also set a third round collision.

Tomorrow, former champion Angelique Kerber remains the lone former champion on the bottom half. She’s joined by Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko.

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