Iga Swiatek moves into a 3rd-round at Australian Open

Iga Swiatek raced to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Rebecca Sramkova in just an hour, continuing her efficient form as she heads into the third round

Melbourne: Iga Swiatek rushed through the first set in 26 minutes and completed her 6-0, 6-2 second-round win over Rebecca Sramkova in an hour at the Australian Open.

The five-time Grand Slam champion makes a habit of advancing quickly through the early rounds at the majors. She’s won almost 12% of her sets in Grand Slams by 6-0, which puts her in exclusive company.

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So when No. 49-ranked Sramkova ended a seven-game losing run by holding serve on Thursday, she raised her arm to acknowledge the applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd. It was one of the few chances she had to celebrate.

“It was good to play in such an efficient way and just finish it quick,” Swiatek said. “Also, you know, just feel the court and how it is in RLA.”

Second-seeded Swiatek next faces 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu, who recovered from an early break in the second set to hold off Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5.

Taylor Fritz hasn’t wasted any time advancing to the third round, dropping just eight games across two rounds and spending just over three hours on court.

The 2024 US Open runner-up and No. 4 seed beat Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 to move into a third-round match against 38-year-old Gael Monfils, who last week became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour title.

Also advancing on the men’s side were local hope Alex de Minaur, seeded 8th, No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 19 Karen Khachanov and No. 21 Ben Shelton, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.

Raducanu has struggled with injuries since her breakthrough major in 2021, when she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.

She didn’t play a warmup tournament ahead of this year’s Australian Open because of a muscle strain and needed time during her match against Anisimova to get treatment on her back from a trainer.

After advancing beyond the second round for the first time at Melbourne Park, the No. 61-ranked Raducanu was confident she’d recover in time for her next challenge against Swiatek.

“It’ll be a very good match for me, another opportunity to test my game,” she said. “Going into it, I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to swing.” Swiatek is moving on from the doping infringement which led to her one-month ban last year. And she’s not showing any signs of it being a distraction.