Iga Swiatek has won through to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third straight year – her sixth consecutive trip to the second week of a Grand Slam tournament.
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The Polish star's consistency at the majors continued courtesy of Saturday night's 6-2 6-3 triumph over No.25 seed Daria Kasatkina at MCA.
It was Swiatek's first win over the Russian, and sets up a fourth-round showdown with Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea, who beat 10th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 2-6 6-2 in a late-night match at Rod Laver Arena.
In contrast to Swiatek, Cirstea is appearing in the second week of a Slam for just the fourth time in a pro career spanning more than 15 years.
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"That (second-week) stat, I'm really proud of it right now that I achieved it, but in the morning I would say it gave me a little bit more pressure," admitted Swiatek, the 2020 Roland Garros champion.
"I'm aware (of that stat), and that gave me a little bit of doubt before the match. That was also another thing that I had to overcome, because I wanted to at least do the same result as I did in previous years."
Pressure aside, this was a danger match for Swiatek given Kasatkina's equivalent racquet skills and athleticism.
Kasatkina had won eight of her first 10 outings of 2022, a run which included back-to-back semifinals in tune-up events in Melbourne and Sydney.
But Swiatek ensured, as often as possible, that Kasatkina was robbed of the time required to unfurl those shapely groundstrokes.
She finished the match with 24 winners to 13 and was the player more regularly trying to dictate.
And while there were some tense, finely-poised moments – particularly in the second set, when the stress increasingly showed on Swiatek's face – the 20-year-old was mostly in control.
"I had this kind of vibe that it was going to be pretty hard to close in that (final) game, but for sure I didn't want to get broken," Swiatek said.
"This was probably like really hard situation in my mind to overcome, but I just told myself to keep doing the same stuff that I did in previous games."
After surviving two break points in the third game, Swiatek ripped through a stretch of the first set, building a 4-1 lead and at the same time tripling Kasatkina's winner count.
Kasatkina responded by going for her forehand more, and generated another break point, but Swiatek escaped that danger as well, later forcing an error to pocket the opening set.
Kasatkina imploded in the second game, a string of loose errors ultimately handing the No.7 seed another break.
But the Russian finally broke Swiatek's serve in the third game on her seventh opportunity, and from there, the second set played out far more evenly than the scoreline suggested.
By this point, Kasatkina seemed to be reading Swiatek's game better and was more successfully countering her pace, while landing more offensive blows of her own.
But she was not prepared for the bold drop-shot Swiatek suddenly produced in the sixth game, which elicited a leaping celebration from the Pole as she earned a break point.
She converted it to lead 6-2 4-2, and maintained that break advantage to close it out.
Swiatek will on Monday play for a place in her first Australian Open quarterfinal, having written on the camera lens after the match that it was "time to make my new PB at AO".
"These (second-week) matches are just on a higher level, I would say. But for sure the first ones are also hard because you have to find that rhythm," Swiatek said.
"Just being in a quarterfinal and you can always say later that, hey, quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, it sounds better (smiling)."