No.2 seed Iga Swiatek swept into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the second time with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of lucky loser Eva Lys in 59 minutes.
The five-time major champion has dropped just 11 games in four matches so far, seven of which were lost in the first round to Katerina Siniakova.
The Pole remains in contention to reclaim the World No.1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka next Monday. Sabalenka will need to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Tuesday's quarterfinal in order to stay ahead of Swiatek. If Swiatek also wins her quarterfinal, Sabalenka will need to reach the final. If the pair meet in the final, the winner will walk away with the World No.1 ranking.
Here are the key numbers from Swiatek's fourth-round rout:
8: This is the eighth time this century that a player has reached the Australian Open quarterfinals for the loss of 11 games or fewer. Swiatek matches the 2024 accomplishment of Sabalenka, who also dropped 11 games to make the last eight and went on to win the title.
The other six runs were by Maria Sharapova (5 games in 2013, lost in semifinals); Serena Williams (8 games in 2013, lost in quarterfinals); Martina Hingis (9 games in 2002, lost in final); Kim Clijsters (10 games in 2002 and 2003, lost in semifinals both years); and Victoria Azarenka (11 games in 2016, lost in quarterfinals).
2: Swiatek improves to 2-0 against Lys, whom she defeated in the 2022 Stuttgart second round -- Lys' first WTA main draw. Ahead of the rematch, Lys recalled that despite the 6-1, 6-1 scoreline, the "amazing rallies" they had played had boosted her confidence. Their second encounter played out in a similar way. Lys intermittently engaged Swiatek in superb exchanges, and even won a handful of them -- with a battle of backhand angles in the second set being the most memorable. Yet she won one fewer game, and lasted three fewer minutes, than in Stuttgart.
"For sure I'm happy that I played in an efficient way," said Swiatek. "I felt pretty confident. So from the beginning I just pushed. I knew that I could make an impact with that."
28: Swiatek once again delivered imperious form, striking 28 winners to Lys' seven -- including five clean return winners. She kept her unforced error tally to 18, compared to Lys' 15.
2: Lys held two break points in the entire match -- both in the very first game. A service winner from Swiatek fended off the first, and Lys sent a backhand long on the second. They would be Lys' only game points of the entire opening set. In total, Swiatek dropped just nine points on serve all match.
13: Lys' loss means that, for a second consecutive major, every player remaining in the last eight has ben to this stage of a Slam before. The last time there were no new Grand Slam quarterfinalists in back-to-back majors wa s 13 years ago, at Roland Garros and Wimbledon 2012.
1-0: Swiatek leads the head-to-head against her quarterfinal opponent, No.8 seed Emma Navarro, 1-0. Their only previous encounter was back in 2018 in the first round of an ITF W80 event in Charleston on green clay, when both players were 17 years old. Swiatek, a qualifier ranked No.422, defeated No.1124-ranked wild card Navarro 6-0, 6-2, and went on to reach the semifinals (where she lost 6-1, 6-1 to Madison Brengle).
"For sure, I have to treat Emma as a player that I never played," said Swiatek. "We both made huge progress since that time that we faced each other. Her journey has been pretty nice and amazing. I saw the US Open matches. She played really well, fighting for every point and everything."
Finally another quarterfinal at Australian Open. It feels so good to say that. Been a long 3 years since she's made it this far.
Another flawless performance from Iga, barely lost any games in week 1. Still extraordinary.
Sure maybe the opponents haven't been as tough. But still. The discipline it takes to keep that sort of focus is outstanding.
Her next opponent Navarro will definitely test her perhaps even more than Siniakova, but if Iga goes about her game and keeps a level head like she has been I think she'll definitely handle it.
Navarro is quite fit but she has played 3 sets in all her matches so that's bound to catch up with her, and physicality is certainly something Iga can use to her advantage.
Jazda Iga!.
Let's get those semis!.
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