Iga Swiatek storms into fourth round of Australian Open with 6-0, 6-1 victory over Spanish qualifier Bucsa

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek put on a masterclass at the Australian Open on Friday, ending the surprise run of Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa in the third round with a swift 6-0, 6-1 victory.

The match looked headed for a double bagel as Swiatek built a 6-0, 5-0 lead after just 48 minutes, but Bucsa—who had saved match point to take out 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the second round—held serve to finally get on the board.

Swiatek held one last time to close it out after 55 minutes.

The three-time Grand Slam champion hit eight winners to just three unforced errors in the match, and never faced a break point—she actually only lost five points in seven service games.

“Well, for sure my main goal was to keep my focus till the end, because sometimes it’s hard when you feel like you control everything—your mind can, like, wander off,” Swiatek said.

“I’m pretty happy that I was solid till the end. I didn’t really let Cristina play her game. I know she can be solid, so I’m pretty happy that I was just disciplined.”

Swiatek has now reached the second week at nine of the last 10 Grand Slams, a stretch that began with her surprise run to the Roland Garros title in 2020 as a 19-year-old.

SWIATEK AT MAJORS SINCE 2020 ROLAND GARROS:

• Won 2020 Roland Garros
• 4th Rd at 2021 Australian Open (l. to Halep)
• QFs at 2021 Roland Garros (l. to Sakkari)
• 4th Rd at 2021 Wimbledon (l. to Jabeur)
• 4th Rd at 2021 US Open (l. to Bencic)
• SFs at 2022 Australian Open (l. to Collins)
• Won 2022 Roland Garros
• 3rd Rd at 2022 Wimbledon (l. to Cornet)
• Won 2022 US Open
• 4th Rd at 2023 Australian Open so far…

Awaiting the No. 1-seeded Swiatek in the round of 16 will be No. 22-seeded Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who took out No. 13 seed Danielle Collins earlier in the day, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Collins was a finalist here last year, beating Swiatek in the semis.

Swiatek and Rybakina have played each other once before, with the Pole defeating the Kazakh in the quarterfinals of the indoor hard-court event in Ostrava in 2021, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

“For sure she’s very strong, physically and mentally,” Rybakina said of the world No. 1. “I think that if I’m going to play my game, aggressive, if I’m going to be solid from the beginning till the end, I have all the chances. I’m going to try to do my best.”

“Since we played juniors, I knew that she’s going in the right direction. With her serve, she can do a lot,” Swiatek said of Rybakina.

“But tactically I’m not prepared yet. We played an exhibition in Dubai—yeah, I really treated it as an exhibition and as a practice, a little bit. So it’s hard to kind of take a lot from that match. Also we played in Ostrava, like two years ago, and the surface was so slow that it’s also hard to take anything tactically from that.

“I’m pretty sure my coach is going to be ready to give me some tips. We’ll see. I’m not really thinking about that today.”