In a third-round clash between Grand Slam champions, World No.2 Iga Swiatek of Poland stormed past Emma Raducanu of Great Britain 6-1, 6-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Australian Open.
"For sure I felt great," Swiatek said in press. "I felt like the ball is listening to me. So just pretty loosened up. At the end I felt like all the tactics and everything I wanted to do, I was able to. So I just kept going."
The two marquee names had won the US Open in back-to-back seasons (Raducanu as a qualifier in 2021, Swiatek as World No.1 in 2022), but today on Rod Laver Arena, Swiatek had the upper hand from start to finish as she collected victory in 70 minutes.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek is still in contention to reach her first Australian Open final. Her career-best result in Melbourne is a semifinal run in 2022, where she lost to Danielle Collins.
Gunning for the top spot: Moving forward into the Round of 16, Swiatek is still in the running to reclaim the World No.1 ranking she lost to Aryna Sabalenka at the end of last year.
If two-time defending champion Sabalenka does not make this fortnight's semifinals, Swiatek will return to World No.1 after the Australian Open. Otherwise, results from the final four will determine who exits Melbourne at the top of the PIF Rankings.
Confidence bests confidence: Raducanu came into the clash ranked World No.61, over 230 spots higher than she was at this time last year while she was recovering from wrist surgery.
Raducanu had also picked up her first two Top 10 wins during last summer's grass-court season, beating Jessica Pegula at Eastbourne and Maria Sakkari at Wimbledon. She was aiming for her first win over a current Top 4 player today.
Swiatek, though, was in a very familiar spot, playing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the 20th straight major. She is only the fourth player in the Open Era to make this round at 20 consecutive Grand Slam events, joining Martina Navratilova, Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
In the end, Raducanu's recent surge could not overcome Swiatek's self-belief at these stages. Swiatek is likely aware that she is currently the active player with the highest winning percentage at Grand Slams (86-18, 82.7 percent) and she was brimming with that confidence throughout.
Tactics pay off: Swiatek started the match trying to take the Raducanu forehand out of play. En route to 5-1, Swiatek hit only one serve to the Brit's forehand, and she aimed a majority of her groundstrokes at Raducanu's backhand side as well. Raducanu was unable to hit a backhand winner in the first set (Swiatek had three).
Swiatek was helped along in the first set by consistent and effective serving. She got two-thirds of her first serves into play and won 91 percent of them (11 for 12). She also went 5-for-6 behind her second serves, hitting only one double fault as she claimed the one-set lead.
There wasn't much to change in the second set as Swiatek kept Raducanu at bay. Raducanu made her last stand at 5-0, grabbing two break points in an attempt to avert the bagel, but Swiatek stayed steely to prevail. Swiatek now leads Raducanu 4-0 in their head-to-head.
"I just try to have the same kind of attitude and same kind of focus no matter what the score is," Swiatek said. "I'm just playing my game. If it's working, why stop?
"I've also seen many matches when someone was back [after] being down like 2-5 or something. You always have to just keep going. It's not over till it's over."
Lucky loser Lys awaits: Swiatek hasn't lost to a player ranked outside the Top 50 since 2023 Wimbledon, when she fell to former World No.3 Elina Svitolina, who was then on the comeback trail after maternity leave.
Swiatek will next face another player ranked outside the Top 50 in the Round of 16: lucky loser Eva Lys of Germany. In a match between two players contesting their first Grand Slam third-round match, Lys beat Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday.
World No.128 Lys has now become the first lucky loser to reach the Australian Open fourth round since the tournament moved here to Melbourne Park in 1988. She is the first lucky loser into any Grand Slam fourth round since Elina Avanesyan at 2023 Roland Garros.
Lys has now defeated Cristian in all four of their meetings -- and has come back from a set down in every single one of those occasions.
That is some score line. I honestly thought it'd be close given their last meeting in Stuttgart.
Another really great day at the office for Iga.
Seems to be flowing with confidence at the moment and actually really enjoying her tennis. It's good to see.
Has a huge chance to make the quarters now.
Jazda!.
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