The third-round matchup of major champions at the Australian Open wound up as a major mismatch.
Second-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland trounced Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu 6-1, 6-0 on Saturday to advance to the Round of 32.
Swiatek held serve to open the match, and Raducanu did so in the next game. Raducanu never won another game, and she never managed a break point on Swiatek’s serve in the match.
“I wouldn’t say I’m ruthless,” said Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion and the 2022 U.S. Open winner. “I just try to have the same kind of attitude and same kind of focus no matter what the score is.
“But it’s not like I want to, you know, show something. I’m just playing my game. If it’s working, why stop? I’ve also seen many matches when someone was back being down like 2-5 or something. You always have to just keep going. It’s not over till it’s over.”
Swiatek, who finished with a 24-9 edge in winners, said of her level of play, “For sure I felt great. 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.”
Raducanu, who won the U.S. Open in 2021, said of the defeat, “The scoreline was obviously quite harsh. I feel like I look back and know exactly what I need to do, and I take it as feedback. I’m very clear on what happened out there.
“The scoreline reflects one thing: If I’m not necessarily able to hold my service games or dictate, it seeps into the rest of my game.”
No. 19 seed Madison Keys had little trouble in an All-American clash, defeating No. 10 Danielle Collins 6-4, 6-4 in 81 minutes. Keys fell behind 3-0 in the second set before breaking Collins’ serve twice in a row.
Up next for Keys is No. 6 Elena Rybakina of Kasakhstan, who downed No. 32 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4.
No. 28 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine rallied to upset No. 4 Jasmine Paolini of Italy 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. Svitolina saved four of seven break points and finished with a 34-20 edge in winners.
Svitolina’s fourth-round opponent will be Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over No. 15 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil.
Elsewhere in the third round, No. 8 Emma Navarro of the United States emerged with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur; No. 9 Daria Kasatkina of Russia topped Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, the No. 24 seed, 7-5, 6-1; and Germany’s Eva Lys rallied past Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
