Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain – July 7, 2023 Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates winning her third round match against Croatia’s Petra Martic REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge

LONDON – Top seed Iga Swiatek kept her Wimbledon campaign on track with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Croatia’s Petra Martic on Friday and reached the fourth round without dropping a set.

The four-time Grand Slam champion was forced to work harder than the scoreboard suggested, but she still had no trouble as she matched her best run at the championships.

Next, she will face the 14th seed Swiss, Belinda Bencic.

Service breaks were exchanged early in the first set before Swiatek won four games in a row.

Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain – July 7, 2023 Petra Martic of Croatia reacts during her third round match against Iga Swiatek of Poland REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge

The 30th seed Martic kept in touch with Swiatek early in the second set, but again the world number one managed to find a few extra gears to push himself to victory.

Martic had managed to win just seven games in two previous meetings with Swiatek, but he doubled that total after saving a match point at 3-5 before breaking Swiatek’s serve to love.

The momentum was turning when Martic then went ahead 40-0 on serve for a chance at a 6-5 lead, but in the blink of an eye, Swiatek responded to break and wrapped up victory in the next game when Martic he missed a dropshot in the net.

“I’m happy that I was able to close it out at the end of the second set,” the 22-year-old Swiatek, who has been world number one for 67 consecutive weeks, said on court.

“Belinda is playing a great game and it will never be easy in the fourth round of a Grand Slam.”

Your subscription could not be saved. Try again.

Your subscription has been successful.

Iga Swiatek remains on course at Wimbledon after beating Petra Martic

For comments, complaints or queries, Contact Us.