By Martyn HermanLondon — Defending champion Iga Swiatek cleared a potentially dangerous early hurdle with ease, defeating former world No1 Karolina Pliskova to reach the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday.Czech 34-year-old Pliskova, back on the rise after an ankle injury almost ended her career, landed some heavy artillery on Centre Court but was no match for Swiatek, who won 6-1 6-3.Swiatek, aiming to break the so-called champion’s curse and become the first woman in a decade to retain the Wimbledon crown, looked sharp in the sunshine, taking the opening set in 25 minutes before being forced to work harder.She has now reached the last 32 at 26 successive Grand Slam tournaments — a record only bettered by Martina Navratilova and Conchita Martinez.“I’m feeling more stable today — and that’s good. The first round was really emotional,” Swiatek, who was pushed to three sets in her opener by Taylor Townsend, said on court. “Today I felt like it was another day in the office.“Even when she was playing fast and flat, I knew that my spin gives me control.”Pliskova missed the entire 2025 season after rupturing ankle ligaments at the 2024 US Open and began the year ranked 1,054 before battling back into the top 100.She reached the Wimbledon final in 2021 and there were flashes of the pulverising groundstrokes and powerful serve as she occasionally managed to knock six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek out of her comfort zone.Pliskova even led 2-0 at the start of the second set but double-faults gifted Swiatek successive service breaks and the Pole raced to victory.Told that Navratilova, who was commentating on the match, had given her an A+ for her performance, Swiatek said there was still some room for improvement.“I felt like I played so many dirty shots in that final game, especially; I wasn’t able to control them that much,” she said. “So maybe not A+, more like B, I would say.”Swiatek will face 29th seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines after she beat Serena Williams’ conqueror Maya Joint 3-6 6-2 6-0. Last year’s semifinalist Taylor Fritz continued his smooth progress by mowing down fellow American Patrick Kypson 6-2 6-2 7-5 to make the third round and remain on course for a maiden Grand Slam title.Fritz recorded his best result at the All England Club 12 months ago and the sixth seed followed up his straight-sets win over lucky loser Dusan Lajovic in the last round with another convincing display to emerge as a dark horse.“It feels great, especially when you’re first on,” Fritz said about going through in three sets.“I feel like I have a good amount of time the rest of the day. Especially just with the feeling of how that third set was going, you play these sets where you feel like you’re in control, you’re the one with the break chances.”