Iga Swiatek feeling freshest in years at Australian Open

MELBOURNE – Iga Swiatek had the ball dancing to her tune in a dominant victory over Emma Raducanu at the Australian Open on Jan 18, and the five-time Grand Slam champion said that she had never felt better.

The 23-year-old Pole has never lifted the title at Melbourne Park but made her intentions clear with a commanding 6-1, 6-0 win over Britain’s 2021 US Open champion Raducanu to reach the last 16, where she will face Eva Lys of Germany.

“I feel much more fresh than in the past two years,” said Swiatek, whose best result in Melbourne is the semi-finals in 2022.

“Even though it’s the beginning of the season, in the last two years I felt much more fatigue and also a bit more stress, I would say.

“So yeah, for sure I can now just focus on improving my game rather than trying to feel better.”

She served a one-month doping ban late in 2024 but has not let it become a distraction in Melbourne.

Lys, who defeated Jaqueline Cristian of Romania 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, is the first women’s singles lucky loser to reach the fourth round since the event moved to Melbourne Park in 1988. But she should not pose too much of a threat for Swiatek.

After a long reign as the world No. 1, Swiatek was leapfrogged by Aryna Sabalenka in the rankings after the US Open, while her ban cost her points late last season.

The world No. 2 can return to the top after the Australian Open if defending champion Sabalenka does not make the semi-finals.

On Jan 18, Swiatek sent out a warning to her rivals with her win and was delighted with her overall performance.

“I kept my discipline from the beginning to the end, and even if sometimes I didn’t play the way I wanted I immediately corrected it,” she said.

“I had the opportunity to actually play the kind of shots that I often do in practice. Sometimes in matches, when I’m a little stressed, they come out differently.

“Today, I just played intensely, I went after the ball, the ball listened to me.”

While things are looking good for Swiatek, former Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina said she will need some “magic” from her physiotherapist if she wants to go further in the tournament after a back spasm flared up during her win.

The sixth seed left the court after just three games for a medical timeout and treatment before beating Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 6-4.

Kazakhstan’s Rybakina was clearly hampered during the match.

The 25-year-old opted to shorten rallies and go for winners as she managed to get through to the second week for only the second time after reaching the final in 2023, when she lost to Sabalenka.

“Honestly, I didn’t know how it was going to go because it came all of a sudden,” Rybakina, who was aided by 37 unforced errors from 32nd seed Yastremska, said of the back issue.

“I needed to stay there and try to hold my serve.

“I knew that it would be very difficult for me to stay long in the rally so I was trying sometimes risk a little bit more. So really happy that it went my way.”

In another match, Elina Svitolina beat world No. 4 Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 – a victory that came just hours after her husband Gael Monfils stunned fourth seed Taylor Fritz to become the second-oldest man ever to make the last 16 at Melbourne Park after Roger Federer in 2020.

The 38-year-old Frenchman came through 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 to reach the fourth round here for a sixth time.

At the other end of the spectrum, teenage qualifier Learner Tien became the youngest man to reach the Australian Open fourth round since Rafael Nadal in 2005 when the 19-year-old overcame injured Frenchman Corentin Moutet.

The American won 7-6 (12-10), 6-3, 6-3, with Moutet collapsing clutching his leg in the third set before gingerly carrying on.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy then ended men’s action on Rod Laver Arena by easing past American Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
REUTERS, AFP