A deluge of double faults dictated early terms before Iga Swiatek found her grasscourt wings to fly into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a soaring 6-4 6-1 victory over an out-of-sorts Danish 23rd seed Clara Tauson on Monday.
The cold and blustery wind swirling around Court One was clearly not to Swiatek's liking as she opened her account with two double faults en route to dropping her serve to love.
While the former world number one immediately got the break back, her serve kept misfiring as she produced two successive double faults to drop her serve again in the third game.
But from 3-1 down in the first set, the Polish eighth seed barely put a foot wrong in a match that was over in 65 brutal minutes.
"The beginning was pretty shaky with the double faults, but I managed to play solid. I'm not sure if Clara was feeling that well, she said she was sick during the night and I hope she has a good recovery," Swiatek told the crowd.
"It's never easy to keep your focus. Sometimes when you're not feeling well you let go of everything and it can give you a boost. I hope she's going to be fine.
"It's pretty amazing, this is the first time I've ever enjoyed London. Sorry guys... I mean I've always enjoyed it. I feel good on the court when I feel good off the court."
Swiatek had been prepared to face a barrage of one-shot winners from Tauson, who came into the match having served the most aces in this year's women's tournament.
Her tally of 27 aces meant she was averaging an impressive nine per match during her run to the fourth round, which included a win over 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina two days ago.
Expectations were certainly high that she could become the first Danish woman to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals in the professional era -- so much so that Denmark's King Frederik abandoned his plush Royal Box seat on Centre Court to watch Tauson in action on Court One.
However, instead of adding to her ace count, Tauson surrendered the first set with a double fault and from then on her game fell apart as Swiatek won eight of the last nine games to reach the quarter-finals for the second time in three years.
"If you want to beat Iga, you have to be 110%. Today I was probably around 30 and not feeling so great," explained Tauson, who had never won a match in three previous appearances at Wimbledon.
"She was a bit nervous in the beginning I think. But as soon as she wasn't nervous anymore, I couldn't follow my legs, and my head was not there. She's probably impossible to beat.
"It's not funny to have to blame it on your health. I couldn't really breathe... I didn't have any power in my legs or in my arm. It's really hard to serve. I'm really sad that it had to end like this. Today was really tough for me."
Swiatek will face Russia's Liudmila Samsonova for a place in the semi-finals.
