The third-round matchup between major champions at the Australian Open turned into a one-sided affair as second-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland dominated Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu with a 6-1, 6-0 victory on Saturday to progress to the Round of 32.
Swiatek started the match by holding serve, and Raducanu managed to do the same in the following game. However, that was the only game Raducanu would win as she failed to earn a single break point on Swiatek’s serve throughout the match.
Reflecting on her performance, Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion and the 2022 U.S. Open winner, humbly stated, “I wouldn’t say I’m ruthless. 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 emphasized her confidence on the court, saying, “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.”
On the other side, Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion, acknowledged the defeat, stating, “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.”
In another match, No. 19 seed Madison Keys of the United States defeated No. 10 Danielle Collins in an All-American clash with a scoreline of 6-4, 6-4 in 81 minutes. Keys faced a 3-0 deficit in the second set but managed to break Collins’ serve twice in a row to secure the win. She will now face No. 6 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in the next round.
No. 28 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine staged a remarkable comeback to upset No. 4 Jasmine Paolini of Italy with a score of 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. Svitolina saved four of seven break points and finished with a 34-20 edge in winners. She is set to face Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in the fourth round after Kudermetova’s 6-4, 6-
