The courts at Melbourne Park are not always the easiest for Iga Swiatek to navigate.
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But when she steps onto them for first-round matches at the Australian Open, she’s tough to stop.
The world No.2 improved to a flawless 7-0 in AO first-round matches, and 23-1 overall at this stage of a Grand Slam tournament, by seeing off the challenge of Katerina Siniakova.
The talented Czech is ranked 50th and is currently the world No.1 doubles player, but Swiatek has spent a cumulative 125 weeks atop the singles rankings, and it showed at John Cain Arena on Monday.
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Her 6-3 6-4 win, achieved in a tidy one hour, 21 minutes, saw her finish with more winners than unforced errors, almost 80 per cent of first-serve points won, and not a single double fault.
It was almost as clean as it could get for a tournament opener, a win setting up a second-round clash with Slovak Rebecca Sramkova.
The Pole was told by a reporter that she was the only woman this decade to reach the second round at every Slam she had played.
“Yeah, I know,” she replied, then added with a smile: “I think I only lost once in the first round. It was at Wimbledon in 2019. I wish I didn't play so my stat would be perfect.”
It’s pretty close to perfect – she has now won 21 first-round Grand Slam matches in a row.
“I'm happy. It shows that I'm consistent,” she continued. “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 kind of this stat.
“I should just do what I always do, and it will be good.”
It’s been extremely good for Swiatek at Roland Garros, where she is a four-time champion and boasts an outstanding 35-2 record in Paris.
In Australia, wins have been harder to come by, with the Pole failing to reach the quarterfinals in her past two visits after a semifinal finish in 2022 – her best result Down Under.
It could be a different story at AO 2025 for Swiatek, who arrives in Melbourne with new coach Wim Fissette as well as a dedicated hitting partner in her team, something she did not have here 12 months ago.
Signs have been encouraging so far, with Swiatek winning five of her six matches on Australian hard courts this season. The only loss came in the United Cup final to Coco Gauff who, along with world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, sits in the opposite half of the draw to Swiatek.
Sabalenka and Gauff are considered by most to be the title favourites, while Swiatek has slipped somewhat under the radar in such discussions. Coincidentally, this was reflected in the order of play, with Sabalenka and Gauff beginning their AO 2025 campaigns at Rod Laver Arena while Swiatek, for the first time in three years, competed at John Cain Arena.
This was by no means an example of Swiatek being slighted. Monday’s order of play was one of the densest in AO first-round history, with superstars Swiatek, Gauff, Naomi Osaka, Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic all in action on Day 2.
Observed Australian champion Sam Stosur on the eve of the tournament: “There's a lot of decisions ahead for schedulers – what court are we gonna put all these guys on and when do we find the spaces?”
Swiatek didn’t mind returning to JCA for the first time since her second-round win over Rebecca Peterson at Australian Open 2022.
In fact, the court assignment brought back great memories.
“Honestly, I love playing here on every stadium. On John Cain I played some amazing matches,” she said.
“I remember with [Anett] Kontaveit, we played fourth round. That was my first chance to go on to the quarters on hard courts. Also some nice tournaments, nice matches.
“I like this court."