Australian Open favourite Iga Swiatek and contenders Jessica Pegula and Maria Sakkari escaped the scheduling chaos to reach the third round on Wednesday but two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova was a casualty.
World No.1 Swiatek and rising stars Pegula and Sakkari didn’t waste the advantage of indoor match-ups, while former finalist Kvitova couldn’t get past the second round for the third straight year.
Iga Swiatek serves against Camila Osorio.Credit:Getty Images
Swiatek, the reigning Roland Garros and US Open champion, was acutely aware of the “comfortable” position of being in the round of 32 before some singles rivals had yet to even hit a ball in competition.
Such was the sometimes uneven nature of top-line tennis, Swiatek and high seeds Pegula and Sakkari had the certainty of knowing their Wednesday match times – played indoors on Melbourne Park’s showpiece stadiums – by early enough the previous night.
“There’s nothing I think the tournament organisers can do, but I’m surprised that they didn’t put yesterday’s matches, like, earlier today on the stadiums,” said Swiatek, after her 6-2, 6-3 win over Columbia’s Camila Osorio.
“But I don’t know how it works, honestly. Maybe they have like TV rights to put, I don’t know, seeded players or whatever on the stadiums. I don’t know.”
Regardless, things are coming together nicely for Swiatek, who was left upset after an unexpected defeat to Pegula at this month’s season-opening United Cup teams event, played across three Australian cities.
“It was really intense, and, like, pretty physical. I think it was much tougher than what the score says,” she said about her second-round result.
“Camila, she’s a great fighter. She didn’t give me many points for free, but I’m happy I was solid and I could finish it.”
Anhelina Kalinina (left) shakes hands after beating Petra Kvitova.Credit:Getty Images
Former Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova and American Madison Keys also won through as the top half of the women’s singles kept its star power.
Krejcikova was victorious over French qualifier Clara Burel 6-4, 6-1, while Keys was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over China’s Xinyu Wang.
Kvitova, 32, was taking her early exit in her stride, beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Ukrainian world No.40 Anhelina Kalinina.
“I think today I had a pretty good start to the year,” said Kvitova, the Australian Open runner-up to Naomi Osaka in 2019 and the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion
“The whole month was great tennis for myself. Even today I felt it’s probably what I can do only.
“I think, of course, it’s disappointing to lose, but otherwise I think that whole month I showed good tennis.
“That’s what I should see in couple of days and work back on the court and trying to improve everything what I can.″
Greek star Sakkari was pushed to three sets by qualifier Diana Shnaider, winning 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
World No.6 Sakkari, one of a host of players featured in Netflix’s tennis drama, Break Point – launched during the Australian Open – said she had no knowledge of the apparent “curse” attached to the show after, in just two examples, Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Open with a knee injury and Matteo Berrettini was eliminated by veteran Andy Murray.
Maria Sakkari celebrates after defeating Diana Shnaider.Credit:AP
“Netflix curse? I have never heard that,” said Sakkari. “I mean, the only one that I can think of is Matteo, but Matteo lost his match 7-6 on the fifth set [to Murray].
“I personally have to say that they only bring us luck, and, yeah, I enjoyed my time with them because they are nice people. Trust me, they are very, very nice.″
Pegula, after her 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, of Belarus, remains a big threat in the women’s top half.
She freely admits she’s looking at the composition of the draw in Melbourne, and has no problem with her approach.
“I think before [doing so] it made me more nervous, like not knowing who I play or like, ‘ooh, should I look or should I not look or should I not look to the next round’,” she said.
“I don’t know why I’m trying to like act like it’s such a superstitious thing. I think I just went the opposite way and was like, ‘OK, I’m just going to look at it, and I’m going to have to try and see everything else that’s going on’.
“Also just not my section [of the draw]. I like looking at it as a whole. I think it’s fun. I think it becomes like a game, like kind of like a problem-solving game.
“We do draws all the time in other sports. I don’t know why it’s like such this thing in tennis not to look at your draw.”
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