Swiatek Could Join Williams Sisters As Only 3rd Wimbledon Champion With Saved Match Point
WTA
Iga Swiatek is still in the Wimbledon draw with a chance to go all the way and if she does she will equal Serena Williams and her sister Venus Williams in an interesting milestone.
If you asked Iga Swiatek ahead of Wimbledon whether she sees herself among the favourites for the event, she would have probably said no. Even so, her play on the surface so far this year has been rather solid and she's certainly among those players that could technically win it.
Many pundits ranked her 3rd on the favourites list behind Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. It's been solid so far, though, she was greatly tested in the 4th round against Belinda Bencic. The Polish player lost the opening set of that match but battled back to take the next two and keep herself alive in the event.
The match saw her save two consecutive match points late in the second set which shows just how close to a defeat she really was. By doing that, Swiatek became eligible for an interesting milestone, even though she's still far away from actually completing it.
Back in 2005, Venus Williams faced match points in the final against Lindsay Davenport but she managed to win the match. Serena Williams faced a similar thing though it happened in the semi-finals. Elena Dementieva had match points against the legendary player but the American ultimately won the match.
Both ended up as champions that year and are the only WTA players to save match points at any point in the event and then end up as champions. Swiatek now has the chance to do the same though she'll need a few more wins to get there. For now, the draw says that she'll face Elina Svitolina in the next round. The two collaborated on a charity tennis event in Poland for Ukraine.
