Katie Swan reveals next move after bowing out at Wimbledon to Belinda Bencic
- Planet Sport writer
- 3 July 2023
Katie Swan has set her sights on the United States after crashing out at Wimbledon.
An impressive serving display from Katie Swan was not enough to prevent her suffering a straight-sets defeat to 14th seed Belinda Bencic in the first round at Wimbledon.
British number six Swan sent down 11 aces during a tight encounter on Court Two, but lost 7-5 6-2 in one hour and 35 minutes.
It was a fourth consecutive first-round exit for the world number 147 but there were encouraging signs against the Olympic gold medallist.
Swan sent down the first of her aces with a 115mph effort, which helped her to get on the board before she broke Bencic to move 3-2 up in the first set.
World number 14 Bencic instantly got the set back on serve after an untimely double-fault by Swan and went on to edge a close opener 7-5.
The second set initially followed a similar pattern with Swan's serve causing problems for the Swiss player but she decisively broke in the sixth game after a fine forehand winner.
Swan, who practised with Venus Williams last week, did show plenty of fight and forced break points of her own in Bencic's next service game.
The Briton could not convert them though and was broken again to seal a straight-sets win for Bencic, who recorded her first victory at Wimbledon since 2019.
"It's always a lot of fun playing in front of home support," Swan reflected.
"I was excited when I saw the schedule and Court Two is the biggest court I have played on here.
"I was so nervous like 10 minutes before I walked on. I felt like my whole body was shaking, but I was actually quite pleased with the way that I started, considering, and kept it tight pretty much all the way through that first set.
"I had chances as well. Just didn't play well enough in the big moments. But, yeah, she's a great player. I knew it was going to be tough.
"There's positives to take from it and also lots to learn and take forward.
"My next moves will be to the US. I will probably do a couple of weeks out there training and then start playing a bunch of tournaments in the lead-up to the US Open."
