Iga Swiatek returned to her ruthless ways as she made her way into the second week of the 2023 Australian Open. The Pole nudged past Cristina Bucsa 6-0, 6-1 in just 55 minutes in their third-round match-up.
In the first round, Swiatek looked to be struggling to her control her shots. In her second-round match, she was way better than what sheād played in the opener and in the third round, Swiatek looked to have worked on removing all chinks in her armour.
Australian Open: Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff don’t break their stride
Throughout their match, the Spaniard couldnāt come up with a shot that forced the world no. 1 to think outside the box. Even if the scores wouldnāt have shown it, the proceedings were quite one-sided with Swiatek taking control from the start right up to the end. Swiatek won 85% of her first-serve points and 79% of her second-serve points. She also won 61% and 71% points on return on the qualifierās first and second serves respectively.
The top seed had 15 winners to her opponentās four and where the latter had 21 unforced errors, Swiatek had just six.
In the fourth round, Swiatek will play Elena Rybakina. The 2022 Wimbledon titlist, seeded 22nd here, ousted the 2022 Australian Open runner-up, 13th-seeded Danielle Collins. Rybakina won 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.Ā
Earlier in the first match of the day, 20th seed Barbora Krejcikova was the first to make it to the fourth round at Melbourne Park. The Czech needed an hour and 26 minutes to claim a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Anhelina Kalinina. Krejcikova hit 23 winners and 19 unforced errors to the Ukrainianās 19 winners and 21 unforced errors.
Lastly, Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff also made their way into the fourth round of the Australian Open. Third-seeded Pegula claimed a one-sided, 6-0, 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk in 65 minutes. Gauff, seeded seventh beat Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-2 in an all-American clash.Ā
Photo Credit: Iga Swiatek Twitter
