Swiatek enters Australian Open quarterfinals

No.2 seed Iga Swiatek swept into the Australian Open quarter-finals for the second time with a 6-0, 6-1 defeat of lucky loser Eva Lys in 59 minutes.

The five-time major champion has lost just 11 games in four matches so far, seven of which were lost in the first round to Katerina Siniakova.

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The Pole is still in the fight to regain the world ranking as no. 1 from Aryna Sabalenka next Monday. Sabalenka will need to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Tuesday’s quarter-finals to stay ahead of Swiatek. If Swiatek also wins her quarter-final, Sabalenka must reach the final. If the pair meet in the final, the winner will walk away with the world ranking of No. 1.

Here are the key figures from Swiatek’s route in the fourth round:

8: It is the eighth time this century that a player has reached the Australian Open quarter-finals for the loss of 11 games or fewer. Swiatek matches Sabalenka’s performance in 2024, who also lost 11 matches to reach the last eight and went on to win the title.

The other six runs were by Maria Sharapova (5 matches in 2013, lost in semi-finals); Serena Williams (8 matches in 2013, lost in the quarterfinals); Martina Hingis (9 matches in 2002, lost in final); Kim Clijsters (10 matches in 2002 and 2003, lost in semi-finals both years); and Victoria Azarenka (11 matches in 2016, lost in quarterfinals).

2: Swiatek improves to 2-0 against Lys, whom she defeated in the Stuttgart second round in 2022 — Lys’ first WTA main draw. Ahead of the rematch, Lys recalled that despite the 6-1, 6-1 score, the “fantastic matches” they had played had boosted her confidence. Their second meeting played out in a similar fashion. Lys intermittently engaged Swiatek in excellent exchanges and even won a handful of them — with a battle of backhand angles in the second set being the most memorable. Still, she won one less match and lasted three minutes less than in Stuttgart.

“For sure I’m glad I played in an efficient manner,” Swiatek said. “I felt pretty confident. So from the beginning I just pushed. I knew I could make an impact with it.”

28: Swiatek once again delivered powerful form, hitting 28 winners to Lys’ seven – including five clean return winners. She kept her unforced errors to 18 compared to Lys’ 15.

2: Lys had two break points in the entire match — both in the very first game. A service winner from Swiatek fended off the first, and Lys sent a backhand long on the second. They would be Lys’ only points of the game in the entire opening set. In total, Swiatek dropped just nine points on serve throughout the match.

13: Lys’ loss means that, for a second major in a row, every player remaining in the last eight has reached this stage of a Slam before. The last time there were no new Grand Slam quarter-finalists in back-to-back majors was 13 years ago, at Roland Garros and Wimbledon 2012.

1-0: Swiatek leads head-to-head against his quarterfinal opponent, no. 8 seed Emma Navarro, 1-0. Their only previous meeting was back in 2018 in the first round of an ITF W80 event in Charleston on green clay when both players were 17 years old. Swiatek, a qualifier ranked No. 422, defeated no. 1124-ranked wild card Navarro 6-0, 6-2 and advanced to the semifinals (where she lost 6-1, 6-1 to Madison Brengle).

“I definitely have to treat Emma like a player I’ve never played,” Swiatek said. “We’ve both made a lot of progress since that time when we faced each other. Her journey has been pretty nice and amazing. I watched the US Open matches. She played really well and fought for every point and everything.”