Rain paused most of the afternoon action at Wimbledon on opening day Monday, but No. 1 Iga Swiatek sailed into the second round with an easy 6-1, 6-3 win over Lin Zhu of China.
A brief delay to close the roof wasn’t enough to shift momentum for Zhu, who lasted less than 10 minutes after the Court 1 lid was put into place.
Swiatek was forced to withdraw from the semifinals at Bad Homburg on Friday due to illness. She looked perfectly healthy on Monday in a dominant victory.
Swiatek won her opening match in a major for the 15th consecutive time, dating to a 2019 first-round defeat at Wimbledon. She’s seeking a fifth Grand Slam win and first at Wimbledon, where she has yet to advance beyond the fourth round but is a former junior champion.
“I felt really confident. I felt like I did a very good job,” said Swiatek. “I feel really good after Roland Garros. After Roland Garros I took some time to appreciate what happened. Last year it was my second Grand Slam [at the French Open], and it felt overwhelming. This time I could focus on celebrating and actually at getting back to work with more peace in my head.”
No. 4 Jessica Pegula survived a challenge from fellow American Lauren Davis in a windy and wet Monday opener, 6-2, 6-7 (8), 6-3.
Pegula had three match-point misfires against Davis, who had only one previous first-round loss in seven prior Wimbledon appearances.
“It was very windy,” Pegula said. “It was hard to really feel like you could get any momentum going because then you’d have the wind gusting. It would kind of keep you off balance and unstable.”
Fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France posted a 6-4, 6-3 win over Katie Volynets.
Victoria Azarenka, the No. 19 seed, No. 12 Veronika Kudermetova and No. 30 Petra Martic also advanced.
Ana Bogdan pulled the biggest early upset in a 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) win over No. 15 seed Liudmila Samsonova.
Alycia Parks, Barbora Strycova, Nadia Podoroska, Diane Parry and Cristina Bucsa were among other first-round winners.
–Field Level Media