Swiatek suffered a second-set wobble that left her in danger of becoming only the third reigning female Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round in the Open era.But world number three Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam champion, steadied her nerves in the deciding set, surviving a 21-minute first game before securing the breaks of serve that edged her into the second round.The visibly emotional Swiatek buried her head in a towel after converting match point.The 25-year-old Pole hasn't reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam in her last three attempts since winning Wimbledon.Townsend's power-hitting pushed Swiatek to the brink of another disappointment at the majors.But the 30-year-old has never been past the Wimbledon second round and Swiatek did just enough to set up a last-64 clash against 2021 Wimbledon runner-up Karolina Pliskova."It was a tough couple of weeks. A season when not everything went how I wanted. I don't think I won any three-set matches this year, so I'm happy I could do it," Swiatek said."Obviously it means a lot to be the defending champion here. In the end I kept my composure. I knew I needed to be solid."