World No 1 Swiatek trounces Bucsa in Melbourne, setting a battle of 2022’s still active Slam champs with Rybakina

It will be a battle of the last two Grand Slam winners in the round of 16 – and all the active winners of Grand Slam singles titles in 2022 – as Iga Swiatek rolled past Spain’s Cristina Bucsa, 6-0, 6-1, to set a round of 16 clash with 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

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“My story isn’t like a lot of other athletes, and that’s okay” – Swiatek

Tennis Majors

Swiatek, ranked No 1 for 42 weeks now, improves to 11-2 in third-round matches at the majors. She has won 24 of her last 26 matches at the majors, dating back to the start of 2022, and 54 of 66 overall.

It was a trademark dominant performance from the world No 1, who needed just 55 minutes to send Bucsa packing. Swiatek hit 15 winners against just six unforced errors, while Bucsa managed just four winners against 21 unforced errors.

Swiatek won 52 of the 71 points that the pair played to reach the second week in Melbourne for the fourth consecutive year.

Bagels for lunch?

Swiatek has now recorded 15 bagel sets in her Grand Slam career, and won each of those 15 matches. That means that Swiatek has recorded a bagel set against her opponent in 22.7 percent of her Grand Slam matches.

Friday’s 6-0 set was just her second at the Australian Open, with her last coming in the first round last year against Harriet Dart.

The 21-year-old Pole won against German Jule Niemeier (6-4, 7-5) and Colombian Camila Osorio (6-2, 6-3) in the previous rounds.

“I feel I’m more and more confident since day one here. I’m not even talking about matches, but also practices. I feel like I’ve done so much work to feel more confident, more relaxed on court. I’m pretty happy that I did it because it’s just a little bit easier. When you actually played those matches, you can feel the rhythm a little bit more. I think that’s the thing that I am most pleased with.”

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• Magda Linette vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Laura Siegemund vs. Caroline Garcia
• Linda Fruhvirtova vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elise Mertens
• Shuai Zhang vs. Katie Volynets
• Camila Giorgi vs. Belinda Bencic
• Nuria Parrizas Diaz vs. Donna Vekic
• Varvara Gracheva vs. Karolina Pliskova
• Lin Zhu vs. Maria Sakkari
• Madison Keys vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Kateryna Baindl vs. Jelena Ostapenko: friday
• Coco Gauff (7) beat Bernarda Pera: 6-3, 6-2
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Marta Kostyuk: 6-0, 6-2
• Elena Rybakina beat Danielle Collins (13): 6-2, 5-7, 6-2
• Barbora Krejcikova (20) beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-2, 6-3