Iga Swiatek swats aside Danielle Collins as grass-court improvement continues

The Pole’s less-than-stellar record on grass and a disappointing year thus far meant she arrived at the All England Club as something of an also ran.

But being under the radar is suiting the former world number one, who is seeded down in eighth here, just fine, and she progressed to the last 16 with a 6-2 6-3 victory against American Collins.

Swiatek, who reached her first final since last year’s French Open on grass in Bad Homburg last weekend, is happy to have found her feet, saying: “I was just in the zone. I knew how I wanted to play and I knew I needed to be brave.

“You can’t let Danielle play her winners. I’m really happy with the performance, it was a good match. It’s much more fun this year. I had some practices where the ball was listening to me, which was pretty new on grass.”

That it was Collins she brushed aside so easily will no doubt also give Swiatek, whose best run at Wimbledon was a quarter-final appearance in 2023, satisfaction.

The feisty American, who reversed a decision to retire at the end of last season and start a family because of fertility issues, criticised Swiatek for “fakeness” in her reaction after Collins pulled out injured during their clash at the Olympics last summer.

Swiatek’s difficult season on her favoured clay, meanwhile, included just a second defeat in nine previous matches against Collins in Rome.

Collins is renowned for her fiery attitude on court and earned headlines around the world at the Australian Open in January when, after beating home hope Destanee Aiava in a hostile atmosphere, she blew kisses to the crowd and slapped her bottom.

“Every person that’s bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me or do what they do, it’s all going towards the Danielle Collins Fund,” she said. “Me and my group of girlfriends love a five-star vacation.”

A mid-afternoon Centre Court crowd in SW19 is about as big a contrast as it is possible to get, and Collins simply did not play well enough to apply any psychological pressure to Swiatek.

The Pole, who revealed she is being fuelled by eating pasta and strawberries, was all business, dictating with her first serve and moving into a 4-1 lead.

She was not distracted when Collins erroneously thought Swiatek had served a double fault at 15-30 and moved across to the other side of the court only to look up and realise her mistake, jogging back with an apologetic wave to laughter from the crowd.

Swiatek faced just three break points in the match, saving all of them, and played a high-class second set to wrap up victory in only 75 minutes.