No. 2 seed Iga Świątek had an easy time advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Emma Raducanu on Saturday.
The match was expected to be competitive as it featured two previous Grand Slam champions, but Świątek rolled through saying afterward, “I felt like the ball is listening to me.”
Świątek as only lost 10 games through three matches and will next face Germany’s Eva Lysa.
No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz saw his Australian Open come to an end with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4 loss to 38-year-old Gaël Monfils. The Frenchman put his name next to the legendary Roger Federer as the only men 38 years old or older to advance to the fourth round of the tournament since 1988.
It was a good day in the Monfils’ household as he returned to Margaret Court Arena later to watch his wife, Elina Svitolina, knock out women’s No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.
“I got inspired after my husband’s win,” Svitolina said afterward. “I watched a little bit.”
Men’s No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner sailed through to the fourth round for the fourth time in his career with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Marcos Giron. Sinner has now won 17 consecutive matches.
American qualifier Learner Tien, who upset No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in the third-round, moved on with a 7-6 (10), 6-3, 6-3 win over Corentin Moutet of France.
Tien is now the youngest man to advance to the Australian Open round of 16 since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur had to pull off a comeback against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo to win 5-7 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-3 in a match that lasted three hours and 53 minutes. De Minaur nearly fell behind two sets to love, but scrapped back to take the final three sets to move on.
The win puts de Minaur into the last 16 for the fourth straight year as he looks to become Australia’s first men’s champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976. De Minaur is also now the sixth Australian man in the Open era to play his way to the fourth round at six consecutive major tournaments, joining Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe, Tony Roche, and Lleyton Hewitt.
Danielle Collins, whose third-round match was highlighted by her back-and-forth with the Australian crowd, heard boos throughout the day as she fell 6-4, 6-4 to No. 19 Madison Keys.
When asked afterward if she might ever make amends with the Melbourne crowd, Collins said she is just trying to enjoy playing tennis.
“At the end of the day whatever happens, happens,” Collins said. “The biggest thing is that nobody got hurt. Maybe some feelings got hurt or things were taken personally, and they probably shouldn’t have been taken personally by the crowd,” she said.
“But, yeah, I feel like people take life way too seriously sometimes. I think in our sport, it’s like somebody was telling me that the average age of people watching and the fans of tennis is, like, 65. I think, you know, we need to kind of bring some entertainment to the game. I think we can try to make jokes and laugh.
“I don’t have a big ego when it comes to this. Honestly, I don’t care what’s written about me. I don’t care, like, what some guy living in his basement is writing on the internet. You know what I mean? I’m just trying to have fun.”
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