Alize Cornet of France broke Iga Swiatek‘s 37-match win streak in the third round of Wimbledon, handing the world No. 1 her first defeat since February.
Cornet, a 32-year-old who played her 62nd consecutive major dating in 2007, defeated Polish Swiatek 6-4, 6-2 to reach the round of 16 at Wimbledon for the first time in eight years. Cornet said afterwards that the win reminded her of her 2014 Wimbledon third round of then-No. 1 Serena Williamsalso on Center Court.
“This court is a lucky charm for me,” she said. “When There’s a Moment You Can Beat” [Swiatek], it is now, on grass. She feels a little less at ease than on other surfaces.”
Swiatek had equaled the longest win streak in the WTA in 32 years, right Martina Hingis‘ run of 37 in a row in 1997 before Hingis was upset by Iva Majolic in the final of the French Open. Steffi Graf won 66 consecutive matches in 1989-1990.
Cornet made only seven unforced errors on Swiatek’s 33. Swiatek had little faith in grass and hadn’t played in a tournament since winning the French Open on clay last month.
“I didn’t play tennis well,” said Swiatek, who won the Wimbledon junior title in 2018 and had the best result in the main draw last year with a fourth-round appearance. “I was quite confused about my tactics.
“What I have changed this season is that I started to become more and more aggressive. It was really comfortable for me to have the initiative and be proactive. But here I couldn’t control the ball.”
Earlier Saturday, Amanda Anisimova survived Coco Gauff in an all-American clash, reaching the fourth round.
Anisimova, who reached the semifinals of the 2019 French Open at the age of 17, defeated Gauff, the French Open runner-up, last month 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1.
“It’s the most special day, I think, of my career,” said Anisimova, noting it was her first game at Center Court.
The 20th seed is preferred against the 115th ranked Frenchwoman Harmony Tan on Monday for a spot in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Anisimova, who bounced back after wasting a 4-1 lead in the first set tiebreaker, made the fourth round of all three majors so far this year. She could reach her first major quarterfinal since that French Open breakthrough in 2019.
Tan, who was knocked out Serena Williams in her Wimbledon main draw debut, Brit swept Katie Boulter on Saturday.
Gauff, who is 18, finished 11th and the youngest woman in the top 140 of the world rankings (by over a year), struggled to gain points on her first serve. The powerful Anisimova dictated more often and triumphed to 26 winners despite 40 unforced errors.
Gauff made an offer to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon for the third time in a row, dating back to her 2019 Cocomania debut at the age of 15.
Brandon Nakashima and Taylor Fritz joined Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafu in the men’s fourth round, the most American men to have made it this far in a major since the 2011 US Open and Wimbledon since 1999.
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Iga Swiatek’s winning streak broke at Wimbledon; Coco Gauff disabled originally appeared on NBCSports.com