Takeaways: Swiatek, Tauson clear paths to a Wimbledon showdown
WIMBLEDON -- With a crisp, clean 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danielle Collins on Centre Court Saturday, Iga Swiatek is one win away from equaling her best result at the All England Club.
To achieve that, she’ll need to get through Clara Tauson in a Monday fourth-round match. The 22-year-old Dane dropped a 7-6 (6), 6-3 upset on 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. Tauson lost her first three main-draw matches here but has rallied to put together three in the span of a week.
Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws
Coming into this third-round match, Rybakina had the best record at the All England -- 21-3 -- of any woman in the field. As the match progressed, you could see the fearless Tauson accelerate through the steep learning curve on this tricky surface.
In the end, Tauson managed to score one break against Rybakina’s powerful serve -- on 10 break opportunities -- and did not get broken herself.
Swiatek settles in
After losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals at Roland Garros -- it was a disappointing 6-0 in the third set -- Swiatek stepped back for a few weeks. Instead of playing the WTA 500 events at Queen’s Club and Berlin, she opted to practice on grass in Mallorca. The move paid off, as she won three matches against formidable players before falling to Jessica Pegula in the final -- her first in more than a year.
The win over Collins was Swiatek’s sixth in seven matches this year on grass, and she looked comfortable doing it. She broke Collins’ serve four times and was unbroken herself. The 24-year-old from Poland is now 8-2 in matches against Collins.
It’s the 19th Round of 16 for Swiatek at a Grand Slam -- the most of any woman since her Grand Slam debut five years ago -- a stark contrast to Tauson’s two.
History for Tauson, heartbreak for Rybakina
Tauson has already equaled her best-ever Grand Slam result -- her Round of 16 run last year at Roland Garros. It ended with a loss to Ons Jabeur.
In the larger picture, a victory Monday would give her the best Wimbledon result achieved in the Open Era by a woman from Denmark. Caroline Wozniacki reached the fourth round six times but never took the next step.
“I never expected it,” Tauson told reporters. “I’ve never had very good results on grass. I came here with a little bit of confidence of making it a few rounds. But winning against Elena was definitely going to be a tough job -- and it was.
“But I played some of my best tennis, and it was obviously a great feeling winning today.”
It was a disappointing performance from Rybakina, who failed to take advantage of a main draw that had already lost six Top 10 seeds. This was the first time in five appearances here that she’s failed to reach the fourth round.
Rybakina dropped only seven games in her first two matches, but lost that many in the first-set tiebreak. It was 6-all when she hammered a backhand past the baseline and failed to land a forehand return.
Going forward …
Swiatek won the only match she’s played against Tauson -- three years ago at Indian Wells in three sets -- but Tauson was still a teenager.
With Rybakina out of the draw, the two highest seeds in the bottom half of the draw are No. 7 Mirra Andreeva and No. 8 Swiatek. They could meet in the semifinals.
