Day 3 of the women’s singles was action-packed after the lack of play on the outside courts on day 2. Read on for a recap of the day, as the best and worst performers are picked out, and discover what the best match of the day was.
Wimbledon Day 3 Recap
Who looked good
It may still be early in the tournament, but #1 seed Iga Swiatek looked ominously good once again. She blew away Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 6-0 to race into the third round. Swiatek blasted 27 winners in the mere 14 games that were played. The Pole had previously identified grass as her weakest surface. She looked fully focused on making that a thing of the past in her opening two rounds.
Daria Kasatkina proved she is undaunted by playing on Centre Court. The 11th seed won as easily as Swiatek, 6-0 6-2 over wildcard Jodie Burrage. Kasatkina showed the variety in her game. She counterpunched her way through many of the points, but often increased the tempo suddenly to hit winners on many occasions. She looks likely to be an awkward opponent for anyone.
Marta Kostyuk pulled off the biggest upset of the day. The Ukrainian completed an extraordinary comeback over the #8 seed Maria Sakkari, winning 0-6 7-5 6-2. Kostyuk made the most errors I’ve seen from any player at the Championships this year in the first set but then played solidly in the next two sets. Her deep groundstrokes put pressure on Sakkari that she could not cope with.
Anett Kontaveit also deserves a mention. She is playing in her final ever professional tournament but prolonged her career with a 6-4 6-4 win over Lucrezia Stefanini. Kontaveit was somewhat disrespectfully put on Court 6, one of the smallest at Wimbledon in what may have been her final match. But the Estonian hit 32 winners to give herself a chance to hopefully play on a bigger court in the next round.
Embed from Getty Images
Who looked bad
Despite the credit that Kostyuk deserves, Sakkari was desperately disappointing, particularly in the third set. She leaked an alarming 48 unforced errors compared to just 19 winners. The Greek seemed shocked when Kostyuk improved, and simply could not rise to the occasion. Grass is her self-professed least favourite surface, and her difficulties were brutally exposed on Court 2.
2021 runner-up Karolina Pliskova also produced a poor display, and the drop in her level over the last year was shown clearly. She slumped to a 6-2 6-3 loss to Natalija Kostic. Kostic played competently throughout the contest, but in truth, the vast majority in the draw would have beaten Pliskova. The Czech player only created one break point chance all match, and hopefully, this is the bottom of her rut.
2019 quarterfinalist Allison Riske-Amrijtraj was another player to serve up a flat show. Paula Badosa dispatched her with relative ease 6-3 6-3. The American is currently outside the top 100 and therefore was not expected to make a very deep run at SW19. But she would have been hoping for some inspiration at a tournament she has been successful at in the past. It never arrived as Badosa won without needing to be at her best.
Embed from Getty Images
Match of the day
Petra Kvitova vs Jasmine Paolini was an entertaining encounter on Centre Court. Kvitova served well and backed it up with powerful hitting for most of the match, not being broken once. But the Italian was dogged and determined, managing to take the match to a deciding set despite hitting only 11 winners compared to 37 for Kvitova. The two-time champion showed her class in the end, however, and ran out a 6-4 6-7 6-1 winner.
