Australian Open: Swiatek, Raducanu, Gauff advance to round three

Swiatak secured a 6-0, 6-2, win over Rebecca in round two and now has wins in her last 40 matches during the first two rounds of Grand Slam events. Her opening set, which was a clean sweep, was her 24th 6-0 set at a Grand Slam event since 2020-start, with only Aryna Sabalenka, the defending champion at the Australian Open, being anywhere near with nine such sets.

After leaving Poland to the finals in the United Cup, a physically gruelling competition, Swiatek has enjoyed a fine run in Melbourne, starting with a 6-3, 6-4 win over doubles No.1 Katerina Siniakova. On Thursday against Rebecca, she needed just an hour to notch a win, hitting 16 winners and did not face any break point. She won 20 out of 26 rallies that lasted over five shots.

Swiatek's opponent, the 2021 US Open Champion Emma Raducanu came into round three with a fine win over Amanda Anisimova by 6-3, 7-5, coming back from a breakdown in both sets.

Swiatek has an undefeated record against the world number 61, having won all their three matches so far, with their previous one being in Stuttgart last year, which Swiatek won 7-6(2), 6-3.

Speaking after her match as quoted by WTA's official website, Swiatek said, "Everybody's story is different (on Emma's injuries that affected her career), and everybody struggles with different stuff, but it does not matter. When we are going to be out there on the court, whoever is going to play better will win, and that's it. I will just focus on tennis.""For sure we have different stories, but before the match, I am not going to really think about that. I will just prepare based on how she plays now and that is it," she added.

Swiatek is aiming to get back her number one WTA Ranking from Sabalenka, with three players having a chance to leave the tournament with a top spot, Sabalenka, Swiatek and number three, Coco Gauff.

"There was a lot of pressure starting the year as number one, but I think overall last year I did not think about it this much anyway. Also, I realized last year that I do not have 100 per cent influence on what happens with my ranking sometimes. So now I just focus on tennis. If I play well, I know I will be back at No.1. If I do not and Aryna plays better, she will be number one. I think it is just smarter to focus on tennis, and the ranking will come after that," she concluded.

Also, Gauff reached the third round and extended her win streak to nine matches with a win over Jodie Burrage by 6-3, 7-5. Gauff had to overcome a 3-5 deficit in the second set to secure a win over the world number 173.

Speaking after the match, Gauff had said, "She was serving really well, so I was just trying to manage that, honestly. All the first-serve points, I was starting off on defence. She really stepped her level up in the middle of the second set, so I was just trying to be offensive when I could."

Another player from the top 10, Elena Rybankina made it to the round three with a 6-0, 6-3 win over the 17-year-old US wildcard Iva Jovic. Her next opponent will be the 32nd-seed Dayana Yastremska, in their first pro meeting. (ANI)