Swiatek shows first glimpses of vulnerability with rivals lurking

With her winning streak at 37 matches and counting, Iga Swiatek remains a warm favourite to lift the women’s singles trophy here on Saturday week after her 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 defeat of Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove on Thursday. But the fact that the No 1 seed surrendered only her third set since March – and to an opponent who qualified only as a lucky loser – should give hope to her rivals that a player who has seemingly forgotten how to lose may not be quite as armour-plated as she seems.

Swiatek was comfortable enough in the first set but her forehand went missing in the second. She briefly adjourned to the locker room to regroup before returning to break Pattinama Kerkhove’s serve in the fourth and ninth games of the third. The loss of that second set added to one she conceded to Zheng Qinwen at the French Open and another to Liudmila Samsonova in Stuttgart.

While the Polish No 1 is still the bookies’ clear favourite she is not quite an odds-on shot as yet, which means that there are two ways to think about her chances of following up her French Open triumph last month. On the one hand, Swiatek is the likeliest winner. On the other, the betting still implies that, at some point over the next nine days, someone is likely to beat her.

Ons Jabeur, who knocked out Swiatek in the fourth round last year, is one live danger to the top seed. Jelena Ostapenko, who has a 3-0 career record against Swiatek including a win on grass, is another. And for much of her second-round match against Ana Bogdan, the two-times Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova looked every inch a contender for her third title.

Kvitova set off in the form that carried her to the title at Eastbourne earlier this month. The raw power in her forehand, a key component of