Wimbledon 2023: Iga Swiatek underlined favourite status with ‘impressive’ opening win, says Mats Wilander

Iga Swiatek showed why she’s the Wimbledon favourite by brushing off illness to launch her title bid with a resounding win over Zhu Lin.

Although Swiatek already has French and US Open titles to her name, she is yet to make an impact on grass, with a run to the fourth round in 2021 her best performance yet at Wimbledon.

But a 6-1 6-3 victory on Monday got the 22-year-old off to the perfect start, says former British No. 1 Robson, especially after a disrupted build-up.

“I was so impressed with the turnaround. She had to withdraw on Friday in Bad Homburg as she was ill and she hadn’t practised a lot over the last few days,” Robson said.

“She initially requested a Tuesday start but that’s not how it works at Slams – it’s done by halves of the draw. And to play as well as she did today was really impressive against a tough opponent.”

Swiatek will face Spain’s world No. 84 Sara Sorribes Tormo next, who defeated Martina Trevisan in the opening round.

The Pole may not have hit the same record 37-match winning streak this year as she did last, but Wilander believes she is better prepared to make a deep run at the All England Club this time around.

“She is going to become one of the favourites to win this tournament over the years for sure,” said Wilander.

“Last year she had the winning streak, got here and at some point you are going to lose. But this year she is looking good. It’s about her mindset.

“Her mindset has to be I’m coming in as one of the favourites, which is not easy to tell yourself you are. I wasn’t able to do that maybe one or two years in my eyes.

“But those years were really fun. She’s one of the favourites and the courts don’t look as slippery this year and that’s going to help Iga as well.

“She said it herself, she feels much more comfortable, she has four Slams. Watch out for her.”

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