Top seed and World No. 1 Iga Swiatek continued to carve her way through the Australian Open 2023 draw on Friday (January 20), dismantling Cristina Bucsa 6-0, 6-1 in bright sunshine on the Margaret Court Arena to reach the fourth round. The 21-year-old world number one, who is looking to add a first Melbourne Park crown to the French and U.S. Open titles she won last year, was all business as she whipped through the first set in 23 minutes.
World number 100 Bucsa had simply no answer to Swiatek’s all-court game and the Spaniard only managed to avoid the dreaded ‘double bagel’ 6-0, 6-0 scoreline by holding her last service game. Swiatek should face a tougher test in Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the last 16 after the big-serving Kazakh earlier upset last year’s losing finalist Danielle Collins.
A statement performance _@iga_swiatek _ @wwos _ @espn _ @Eurosport _ @wowowtennis _ #AusOpen _ #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/DDkMniAshb
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2023
Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula progress as well
American title favorites Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff had convincing third-round wins on Friday at the Australian Open 2023. The third-seeded Pegula, a quarterfinalist the past two years at Melbourne Park, needed 65 minutes for a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Marta Kostyuk. Seventh-seeded Gauff beat Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-2 to reach the last 16.
Pegula raced through the first set and though Kostyuk established herself in the second set, she was always playing catch-up. “I thought I just didn’t give away a lot of free points,” said Pegula, who will meet Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open champion, in the next round. “I was playing aggressive when I had to but also smart. Happy to be through to the next round.”
Gauff had to withstand a barrage of big hitting from Pera. “Today was a tough match,” Gauff said. “Bernarda hit the….I can’t say that word…she hit the ball really hard, I was just trying to hang in there. I’m happy to be through to the second week.”
(with Agency inputs)
