Iga Swiatek beat two past greats at the Australian Open on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Emma Raducanu. The only women’s third-round match between Grand Slam champions, it all came so easily for Iga Swiatek.

If you thought that meant the game was going to be close, you couldn’t be more wrong — this is how she described it: “I felt like the ball was listening to me,” Swiatek said.

When asked to explain the feeling, Swiatek held her two index fingers a few inches apart and said, “Just being able to target that space.” She then spread her palms more than a foot apart to show that was the margin of error on other days.

The difference, she said, is “being more precise and really knowing where the ball is going to go and seeing the effect you want.”

The five-time Grand Slam champion and former long-time No. 1 women’s player – now No. 2 behind Aryna Sabalenka – was at the peak of her powers, as she was at Melbourne Park As the first week showed, it was difficult for her. Anyone can slow Swiatek down.

The forehand has strong spin and bounce. Squeaky sneakers scramble to grab every shot. Great return. etc.

Swiatek played what she called “perfect” against Raducanu, who won the 2021 U.S. Open as a junior qualifier.

In fact, Swiatek led 24-9 on the winning shot, committed only 12 unforced errors, about half of Raducanu’s 22, and cruised to a 29-59 victory. That prompted one spectator to yell, “No mercy!” In the second set, Swiatek, after the match was tied early in the game, faced cloudless skies and temperatures near 80 degrees Fahrenheit (above 25 degrees Celsius). performance in the last 11 games.

“I think part of it was because she was playing well and I wasn’t playing very well,” Raducanu said. “That combination might not be good.”

Swiatek, who agreed to serve a one-month ban late last year over a doping case, has four French Open trophies and a U.S. Open trophy. But she never reached the semifinals in Australia; in 2022, she lost in that round to Danielle Collins. A year ago, Swiatek was defeated in the third round by teenage Linda Noskova.

Swiatek dedicated Saturday’s win to her grandfather, and her razor-sharp focus was most evident as she allowed just 10 total in three games with new coach Wim Fissett on the sidelines. game.

Next up was Germany’s 128th-ranked Eva Lys, who lost in qualifying but secured a spot in the main draw after someone withdrew about 10 minutes before the first round.

Leith defeated Jacqueline Christian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to become the first “lucky loser” to reach the fourth round since the Australian Open moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.

Other players who will have a chance to advance to the quarterfinals after winning on Saturday include sixth-ranked Elena Rybakina, eighth-ranked Emma Navarro and ninth-ranked Daria Kasatkina. 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina defeated No. 32 player Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 6-4, and Navarro eliminated three players 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Former Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabr and Kasatkina defeated No. 24 Yulia Putintseva 7-2, 5-5, 6-1. Unseeded Veronika Kudermetova beat No. 15 Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 6-2.

No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, was eliminated by No. 28 Elena Svitolina 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Navarro reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at Flushing Meadows in September and has won all three matches in Melbourne this year in three sets. This means she has played 30 tour-level three-set matches since the start of last season, the most of any female player.

“I like three sets. I love tennis so much I can’t resist,” Navarro joked. He grew up in South Carolina and won an NCAA singles title at the University of Virginia. “I’m just trying to hang in there and keep believing in myself.”