Upsets aren’t uncommon in the tennis world — even the greatest players of all time don’t regularly run of long strings of tournament victories. When winning-streak headlines start reaching the “longest of the decade” or “longest of the century” point, it becomes all the more stunning when they come to an end.
Iga Swiatek’s incredible winning streak is over at 37 matches after a third-round loss to Alize Cornet at Wimbledon. Swiatek’s streak is the longest in the WTA this century, topping legends Venus Williams (35 in 2000), Serena Williams (34 in 2013) and Justine Henin (32 in 2007-08).
The incredible run came to a crashing halt on Centre Court at the All England Club on Saturday in a match where Swiatek, the world’s top-ranked woman, simply wasn’t sharp in a 6-4, 6-2 loss. She committed 33 unforced errors, won only 30% (8-for-27) of her second-serve points and only 37% of her receiving points.
“I know I didn’t play good tennis. I was pretty confused about my tactics,” Swiatek said after the match.
Cornet, meanwhile, is on to the fourth round at Wimbledon, and this isn’t the first time she has won a stunner in London. Back in 2014, Cornet upset then-world No. 1 Serena Williams in the third round at Wimbledon. At the time, Williams was the defending champion and had won three of the past four Wimbledon singles titles.
“I have no words right now. It reminds me of the time I beat Serena on the same court, eight years ago exactly,” Cornet said, according to the AP. “This court is a lucky charm for me.”
While Cornet moves on in the tournament — to face Harmony Tan, who beat Serena Williams in the first round at Wimbledon this year — Swiatek’s streak will go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in modern women’s tennis.
- It is the longest WTA winning streak since Martina Hingis reeled off 37 consecutive victories in 1997.
- Swiatek went 12-0 against the current top 15 in the WTA rankings during that stretch — and that group doesn’t include victories against multiple-time Grand Slam winners and former world No. 1s Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka.
- The streak included Swiatek’s second Grand Slam championship (French Open) and four WTA1000 titles (Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome)
- The streak ends with Swiatek having nearly double the WTA rankings points as the No. 1 player in the world than the No. 2 player Ons Jabeur.
Before the loss to Cornet, Swiatek’s last defeat came to Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai on Feb. 16 — 136 days ago.
