Iga Swiatek stormed into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Monday with a one-sided win over the tournament’s last remaining home player in the women’s draw.
The second seed was on court for just 73 minutes before brushing aside qualifier Madison Inglis, 6-0, 6-3, on the Rod Laver Arena. Swiatek has now won 33 sets 6-0 at Grand Slam events during her career. Against 27-year-old Inglis, who was playing in the fourth round of a major for the first time, the Pole fired 22 winners and converted five out of six break points.
“I felt pretty confident from the beginning,” Swiatek said afterwards.
“The pace of the ball was much different than in my last round. So I needed to adjust my legs and really be precise with the footwork.
“I’m happy that I went for it.”
Swiatek has now won 39 out of 40 matches played against players outside the top 100 since the start of 2022, with the only person managing to get the better of her being Alexandra Eala. At Melbourne Park, she is bidding to become only the seventh woman in the Open era to achieve a career Grand Slam after previously winning the French Open four times, as well as triumphing once at both the US Open and Wimbledon.
The former world No.1 will have a day off tomorrow, which will be a big relief as the temperature is set to surge to around 44 degrees.
“44? Oh my God. Then I have no idea what I’m going to do,” Swiatek replied when informed about the weather forecast.
“I think I got to practise, but 44, that’s crazy.”
Swiatek heads into the last eight of the draw having dropped just one set so far in the tournament, which was against Anna Kalinskaya in the third round. She is a two-time semi-finalist at the tournament, which makes her one of three women from her country to ever reach this stage. The others to do so are Magda Linette and Agnieszka Radwanska.
Awaiting Swiatek in the next round will be former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who dropped only four games during her 6-1, 6-3 win over Elise Mertens. It will be the 12th time they have played against each other on the Tour, with Swiatek narrowly leading their head-to-head 6-5.
“I need to stay aggressive and go for my shots,” said Rybakina, who has won 17 out of her last 18 matches played.
“The focus for me is my serve, stay aggressive and let’s see what’s going to happen.”
At the age of 24, Swiatek is the youngest woman to reach six consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals since Serena Williams did so between Roland Garros 2002 and Wimbledon 2003.
