Australian Open 2025: Consistency Has Been The Key For Swiatek

Iga Swiatek, Australian Open
Iga Swiatek (photo: Tennis Australia/Rob Prezioso)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 16, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

World No. 2 Iga Swiatek hasn’t won an Australian Open title among her five major crowns – four Roland-Garros and one US Open – but not for a lack of trying. In fact, she’s the only player to have reached the second round at each of the 20 women’s singles Grand Slams played since 2020, the year she won her first French Open crown.

With a Grand Slam record of 85-18, the former No. 1 has the highest winning percentage among current players at 82.5 percent. Swiatek is also the only player to have reached the third round or better in every major tournament this decade.

Added up, there’s a sense of consistency found in Swiatek’s performances on major stages.

“It shows that I’m consistent,” Swiatek said, after winning her first-round match against No. 50 Katerina Siniakova of Czechia earlier this week. “I’m just more confident before a Slam, even playing the first match. I know that no matter what’s going to happen, I have this kind of stat.”

Coming into her second-round match with No. 49 Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia on Thursday afternoon, the Polish star was 20-2 in Grand Slam second-round matches. Her last round of 64 setback came back in 2019 at the US Open against Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. After defeating Sramkova, 6-0, 6-2, in an all-too-brief 60 minutes, she now has 21 second-round major triumphs and has won her last 16 matches against opponents ranked outside the Top 20.

With a sense of rhythm and precision, Swiatek won 83 percent of her first-serve points, hit 16 winners, faced no break points on her serve and converted five of six break points against the 28-year-old Sramkova, a winner of a title last year at Hua Hin. She outpointed her opponent 49-26.

“I felt really solid today. It was a really efficient game,” Swiatek said afterward. “I’m happy that I kept my focus because sometimes you think in a way it seems a little bit easy and it might cause problems later on because your focus might be gone, but I’m happy that I kept it and I was solid.”

Swiatek’s best run in Melbourne came three years ago in 2022, when she reached the semifinals before losing to current World No. 10 Danielle Collins of the United States, who is seeded 11th at this year’s tournament.

Next, in the third round, she will face No. 61 Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, who downed No. 35 Amanda Anisimova of the United States, 6-3, 7-5, in a one-hour and 54-minute battle on Kia Arena that was going on at the same time Swiatek was taking care of business on Rod Laver Arena. Raducanu converted eight break points and benefited from 44 unforced errors by Anisimova in advancing to the round of 32 for the first time in Melbourne. It’s also her first trip to the third round of a major since winning the US Open in 2021.

In her on-court interview, Raducanu spoke about facing Swiatek in the third round. “It’ll be a good match for me. Any match I can play against these top opponents …. I’m loving it. It’s an opportunity to test my game and see where I’m at. We played twice before on clay. Let’s see on hard court,” she said.

“She’s achieved so much already. Going into it, I have nothing to lose. I’m just gonna swing. I’m gonna give it my best. I can’t wait to play in front of you guys.”

Next Gen ATP stars showing they belong now

At the start of play on Thursday, five of the eight players who competed in the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia were still alive in this year’s AO draw. Two of them – Jakub Mensik of Czechia and Joao Fonseca of Brazil – have drawn plenty attention for slaying a pair of Top-10 stalwarts in World No. 6 Casper Ruud and World No. 9 Andrey Rublev, respectively, on back to back days.

Besides the 48th-ranked Mensik and No. 112 Fonseca, No. 20 seed Arthur Fils of France and a pair of Americans, No. 42 Alex Michelsen and No. 121 Learner Tien, round out the group of #NextGenATP talent. The future of men’s tennis is in good hands.

Fonseca, Michelsen and Tien are on court Thursday and will try to join Mensik and Fils in the third round. Fonseca plays No. 55 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, Michelsen faces 258th-ranked Australian wild card James McCabe, and Tien faces World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev.

“All the young players who are playing here are trying their best to reach the same level, like Jannik and Carlos were a few years ago,” Mensik said during his post-match news conference Wednesday, after defeating Ruud, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the third round against No. 66 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain. “We can approach it the same and try to reach the same level, compete against them.

“It’s great that there is a new blood always. We can see that tennis is moving on. We can see different or new names on the tournaments. For the fans, for the tennis, for everything, it’s really great.

“The timing of Next Gen helped us a lot. All of us played really great matches. Also, in the tournaments before [the Australian Open], we were doing really well. That’s the most important thing at the beginning of the season to have the match count and to come to the Grand Slam with matches played.”

After defeating Rublev, Fonseca said during his post-match news conference: “I think when I arrived here, my first goal was to qualify for the main draw.

“Of course, my expectations are bigger now. I want more and more. Yeah, want more and more. I think that’s the mentality of the champion.”

Around the Australian Open

• No. 18 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland was ousted by No. 51 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, in one hour and 51 minutes on John Cain Arena in their third meeting – second at tour-level – and first at a Grand Slam. While both of their previous meetings had gone to a deciding set, this time it was dominated by the Serbian, who finished the job in straight sets.

Kecmanovic won points on 78 percent of his first serves, hit 32 winners while committing only 12 unforced errors and broke Hurkacz’s serve four times. Kecmanovic, who saved all three break points he faced, outpointed the Polish star 92-74.

Next, Kecmanovic will oppose No. 13 seed Holger Rune of Denmark, who defeated No. 34 Matteo Berrettini of Italy, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) in the third round.

• No. 31 Francisco Cerundolo advanced by retirement over No. 73 Facundo Diaz Acosta, in an all-Argentina match-up, with Cerundolo ahead 6-2, 1-0 after 40 minutes of play on Court 6.

• No. 9 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia reached the third round of the AO for the third time after dominating No. 64 Wang Yafan of China, 6-2, 6-0, in an hour and 18 minutes on 1573 Arena. The World No. 10 converted five of 12 break points and outpointed Wang 64-40. She has dropped only six games in her first two matches.

Next, Kasatkina will play No. 24 seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who defeated No. 204 Zhang Shuai of China, 6-2, 6-1, in 62 minutes.

• Former World No. 2 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, now ranked 39th, fought through a health issue that required medical attention early in the match and went on to defeat No. 59 Camila Osorio of Colombia, 7-5, 6-3, in an hour and 36 minutes to move into the third round for the first time in three years. Jabeur fought through 25 unforced errors to hit 19 winners and convert six break points. She outpointed Osorio 71-58.

Next, Jabeur will face No. 8 seed Emma Navarro of the United States, who held off No. 94 Wang Xiyu of China, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, in two hours and 11 minutes on Margaret Court Arena. It was Navarro’s second career win over Wang and she did it by outpointing her opponent 90-84.

• No. 32 seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine dropped just one game against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro, who was playing with a special ranking of No. 95, and advanced with a 6-0, 6-1 win in just 51 minutes to move into the third round against World No. 7 and sixth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who easily beat 17-year-old American wild card Iva Jovic, ranked 191st, 6-0, 6-3, in an hour and 20 minutes, behind 29 winners and five breaks of her opponent’s serve. Rybakina outpointed the Junior World No. 2 Jovic, 73-48.

Thursday’s Australian Open results

Friday’s Australian Open order of play

By the numbers

Less than a week after becoming the oldest man to win an ATP Tour-level title since 1977, 41st-ranked Gaël Monfils of France has made history, again. He becamee the fourth man to reach the third round of the AO aged 38 or older since a full 128-player draw was used for the first time in 1988 – after Ivo Karlovic in 2018, Roger Federer in 2020 and Feliciano Lopez in 2021.

Monfils defeated No. 101 Daniel Altmaier of Germany, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (3), in two hours and 19 minutes on 1573 Arena Thursday afternoon. Monfils, who won his only previous match with Altmaier in the first round of Vienna in 2023, hit 37 winners – including 12 aces – and outpointed his opponent 109-89.

“Quotable …”

“I’m really happy with the serve today. This is something that I worked on in the preseason. In the first round I struggled a little bit, so I wasn’t too happy with the serve. Yesterday I was more focused on practicing the serve. I spent more time just serving with Juan Carlos [Ferrero], with my team, and it’s something that I really want to be better. So. I’m just glad that today it worked pretty well. Hopefully in the next round it is going to be better.”

– World No. 3 and third seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, during his post-match news conference Wednesday after defeating Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the third round. Alcaraz struck 14 aces and didn’t face any break points.

 

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