Staff Reporter.
(AFP) – World No 1 Iga Swiatek wasted little time Wednesday in reaching the third round of the Australian Open, sweeping past Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
The title favourite from Poland said after a tough first-round examination that she needed to find some extra “intensity”, and she found the spark against the 21-year-old world number 84.
The 2022 French and US Open champion, also 21, is looking to win the Australian Open for the first time and reached the last 32 after 1hr 24min of gritty resistance from Osorio.
“The match was much tougher than the score says,” said Swiatek, who made her Australian Open debut in 2019.
“It was really intense physically and Camila didn’t give me many points for free, so I needed to really work for every and each of them.
“But I’m happy that I was consistent and I can play the next round,” added Swiatek, a year after recording her best result at Melbourne Park, losing to Danielle Collins in the semifinals.
The three-time major winner – she also triumphed at Roland Garros in 2020 – will face either 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada or Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa in the third round.
SAKKARI PUSHED ALL THE WAY BY COLLEGE STUDENT
World No 6 Maria Sakkari survived a huge scare against college student Diana Shnaider before coming through 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the third round.
Shnaider, an 18-year-old qualifier from Russia who studies at North Carolina State, pushed the Greek all the way in a 2hr 33min examination on Margaret Court Arena.
“It’s never easy to play someone that you’ve never played before, you’ve never seen on the tour,” said Sakkari, who is seeking a maiden Grand Slam title.
“I was a little bit hesitant, she was swinging very hard, playing very aggressive,” she added of the world number 106.
“I was very far back from the baseline running and defending every single ball, which is not my game.
“I tried to find ways, and that’s what I think I’m good at, just trying to find solutions to improve my game during the match.”
The hard-hitting Shnaider broke Sakkari’s opening serve on Margaret Court Arena, and showed huge guts to save three break-back points and secure the opening set in 48 minutes on her fifth set point.
Sakkari, one of the pre-tournament favourites, got back on track at the start of the second, breaking Shnaider’s opening service game and opening a 3-0 lead.
But again Shnaider fought back, saving four set points before Sakkari took it to a decider.
The Greek was becoming increasingly tetchy as the match dragged on, complaining to the umpire about the Russian’s loud grunting and screaming and beating her racquet against her shoe when one shot went awry.
Shnaider again went a break down early in the third set and although she broke back, the sixth seed managed to regroup and take the match.
It was the performance of the gritty Shnaider’s fledgling career.
A year ago the teenager was outside the top 1 000 and two weeks ago she lost in the first round of qualifying at the Auckland Classic.
She gave no clue that she might run the 27-year-old Sakkari close in her maiden match at this level, taking almost two hours to edge the 272nd ranked Slovakian, Kristina Kucova, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5 in the first round on Monday.
“I think that she played an amazing match,” said Sakkari.
“She’s very young. She’s very promising. Maybe she should consider not going to college and playing pro instead.”
Sakkari will play either Jil Teichmann, the number 32 seed from Switzerland, or China’s Zhu Lin in the third round.