Nobody beats Yulia Putintseva five times in a row—not even Iga Swiatek.
The 29-year-old Kazakh sent shockwaves through the women's draw at Wimbledon on Saturday as she upset the world No. 1 in the third-round of the grass-court major, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, putting an end to Swiatek's 21-match winning streak. The Polish star entered the grass-court Grand Slam having won Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros on her beloved clay courts before two straight-sets wins at SW19.
But Putintseva, too, came into the match on an unbeaten run, and has now won a career-best eight matches in a row: Two weeks ago, she won the Wimbledon tune-up event in Birmingham, with the two-time Roland Garros quarterfinalist joking afterwards that she was now "a grass-court specialist."
In four prior matches against Swiatek, Putintseva had never even won a set, but she's not new to big wins on the surface: In 2019, she toppled Naomi Osaka in consecutive events, including in the second round of Wimbledon. The win against Swiatek was her 12th career Top 10 victory, and puts her into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time since she reached the quarterfinals of the 2020 US Open.
"Honestly, the title in Birmingham give me a lot of confident that I can play and I can be good on grass," Putintseva said, "because before that my statistic on grass wasn't that successful. Let's put it that way. Last year I won no matches on grass.
"Entering the tournament like Wimbledon, when you have five consecutive wins on grass, it's pretty good. You feel this surface much, much better."
Putintseva stands at just 5-foot-4, making her a player who wins matches with her court-craft and guile. And despite losing the first set, she was in the match even before she looked poised for the upset. She failed to convert three break point chances in the opener's final game that would've gotten the set back on serve, but broke Swiatek four times in the rest of the match. From 1-1 in the second set, Putintseva won nine consecutive games, and ultimately, saved seven of the eight break points she faced.
She finished the match with 19 winners to 15 unforced errors, while Swiatek struck 34 winners to 38 unforced errors. Notably, 11 of Putintseva's 15 unforced errors came in the first set.
"At some point I was playing fearless," the Kazakh continued. "I was just, I can do it, I have to believe 100%, I have nothing to lose, just go for it. Also my coach told me, no matter which shot you're doing, believe 100 percent and just follow.
"It's when the turning point happened, I start to play really, really good. I think today I'm happy, extra happy, because she didn't lose it; I took it."
If Putintseva grew in confidence as the match wore on, the opposite was true for the world No. 1, at a tournament where she's historically struggled to show the kind of tennis that's helped her cement her status as the WTA's top player. Her forehand misfired more, and more still, as her rally tolerance evaporated, and she found herself flummoxed by Putintseva's all-court game.
Wimbledon remains the only Grand Slam tournament where Swiatek hasn't advanced past the quarterfinals, and she's only done that once.
"For me, going from this kind of tennis where I felt like I'm playing the best tennis in my life to another surface where I kind of struggle a little bit more, it's not easy," Swiatek told reporters post-match. "All that stuff really combines to me not really having a good time in Wimbledon.
"My tank of really pushing myself to the limits became suddenly, like, empty. I was kind of surprised. But I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros. I didn't really rest properly. I'm not going to make this mistake again."
