By Nick Mulvenney
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Second seed Iga Swiatek charged into the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-0 humbling of Emma Raducanu in a meeting of former U.S. Open champions at a sunny Melbourne Park on Saturday.
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina joined Swiatek in the last 16 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Dayana Yastremska, but only after receiving treatment on her back, while eighth seed Emma Navarro and ninth seed Daria Kasatkina also advanced.
German Eva Lys became the first lucky loser to reach the women’s fourth round since 1988 when she beat Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 4-6 6-3 6-3, her reward a date with Swiatek.
The Polish number one targeted Raducanu’s backhand and feasted on the Briton’s second serve to win the last 11 games of their contest and reach the last 16 in just 70 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
“I just enjoyed playing, I played a few shots where I thought ‘yeah, this is what I practised for’,” said the 23-year-old, who has yet to drop a set.
“I felt really confident so at the end I could push more and converting all those break points was really important for me.”
Swiatek converted five of the 12 break points she earned and faced none on her own serve from the hapless Raducanu, who has endured a string of injuries since capturing her only major at Flushing Meadows in 2021.
“I think it was a little bit of her playing well and me not playing so well,” said Raducanu. “That combination is probably not good and resulted in today.”
After a few days of cooler weather, temperatures started to rise on Saturday with projected highs of around 31 degrees Celsius (88F) over the weekend.
“For sure it helps,” said Swiatek. “But on the other hand you also have to keep the control, so it’s a mix.
“In tennis, the most important thing is adjusting … I felt like it was going to be a challenge to adjust but obviously from the beginning I felt like I’m playing well, my hand is fast.”
PHYSIO ‘MAGIC’
American Alex Michelsen was also an early winner on day seven of the championships, racing past 2023 semi-finalist Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6(5) 6-2 on John Cain Arena.
The 20-year-old Michelsen, who rallied from 3-0 down in the second set, joined compatriot Tommy Paul in the fourth round with four more Americans playing third-round ties on Saturday.
“It’s easy to look at the score and be like, ‘Oh, he’s cruising’ but it doesn’t feel like that during the match,” said Michelsen.
“These guys are always applying pressure, giving energy to try to knock you off your game.”
Navarro joined the American charge with a 6-4 3-6 6-4 win over Tunisian Ons Jabeur in a topsy-turvy match on Margaret Court Arena.
Next up for Navarro is Russian Kasatkina, who downed Kazakh Yulia Putintseva 7-5 6-1 on Kia Arena to reach the second week for the first time on her 10th trip to Melbourne Park.
Putintseva’s compatriot Rybakina needed seven match points to close out her 6-3 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska, whe reached the semi-finals as a qualifier last year.
Sixth seed Rybakina was clearly hampered by injury for much of the contest on John Cain Arena.
“I knew I was not going to be able stay long in the rallies so I had to be aggressive and I’m happy I was able to get it done,” she said.
“I’ll see my physio and he will do some magic.”
Men’s top seed Jannik Sinner later resumes his title defence when he takes on unseeded American Marcos Giron.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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