By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday June 9, 2022
The World No.1 edged lucky loser Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove on Day 4.
Photo Source: Getty
Iga Swiatek had to deal with adversity on No.1 Court on Day 4, and the Pole gathered herself to hit back against a stern challenge from World No.138 Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
In windy conditions the World No.1 struggled, but she picked up her tennis in the deciding set and raced past the lucky loser to book her 37th consecutive win and tie Martina Hingis for the longest WTA win streak since 1990.
After the match Swiatek pulled no punches. She admits that she’s still trying to find her game on the grass.
“I would say the grass is pretty tricky for me,” she said. “I'm not going to lie. I mean, 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.”
Kerkhove was happy that she got to face the World No.1 on grass as well. She knows it would have been a lot more difficult on clay or hard.
"For me I think it was the best surface to play against her, on grass," she said. "I think clay is much different against her. So I was happy to play for the first time against her on grass, so I think that was advantage for me."
The top seed, who improved to 44-3 on the season and faces Alizé Cornet in the third round, says she simply needs more time on the surface to master the movement.
“It's hard to describe 'cause, well, on grass I feel like everything changes,” she said. “You have to adjust the movement. I mean, for sure I really like how I move on court, especially when I can slide, when I can recover quickly. Here I can't really slide. I have to slow down before hitting the ball, so it's tricky.
“I think I would play well on grass if I would have kind of more time to just play on this surface. Yeah, I mean, every year it's only like four weeks, so I feel it's not enough to learn properly. I guess I can see other players who learn how to do that, so I still have hope.”
The windy conditions made it difficult for Swiatek as well on Thursday and she gave her opponent credit for handling the challenge.
"I think she used all the advantages that she could," said Swiatek. "I feel like she was using the wind better than me, she wasn't slowing down her hand, so yes, she played a really great match and it seems that she really understood how to play today, but I'm pretty happy that I could fight back - and I'm pretty happy that I am going to have another chance to play here."