Melbourne, Jan 20 No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland swept into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the second time with a win over lucky loser Eva Lys of Germany on Monday.
The Pole registered a 6-0, 6-1 win over the German in 59 minutes at Rod Laver Arena. Swiatek has dropped just 11 games in four matches so far in the tournament. This was her fourth successive straight-sets win for Swaitek in this tournament.
In the first round, she registered a 6-3, 6-4 win over Katerina Siniakova, followed by a 6-0, 6-2 victory against Rebecca Sramkova in the second round, and her third round win over Emma Raducanu was 6-1, 6-0.
Since her WTA Tour debut, Swiatek has won 72 sets 6-0 – a whopping 40 more than next-best Elise Mertens (32) in that timeframe. After win over Lys, her tally of bagels at the Australian Open moved to five.
The five-time major champion remains in contention to reclaim the World No.1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka next Monday. Sabalenka will need to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Tuesday's quarterfinal in order to stay ahead of Swiatek.
If Swiatek also wins her quarterfinal, Sabalenka will need to reach the final. If the pair meet in the final, the winner will walk away with the World No.1 ranking.
In the men's singles, American youngster Ben Shelton made his return to the Australian Open quarterfinals after French veteran Gael Monfils was forced to retire from the pair’s fourth-round clash.
The 22-year-old Shelton, who reached the last eight in Melbourne on his debut in 2023, led 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 1-0 after two hours, 56 minutes before Monfils called the match.
Monfils, who became the oldest man since 1977 to win an ATP Tour title in Auckland earlier this month, was on an eight-match win streak, but the physical demands of his run began to take their toll in the third set when his movement was significantly hindered.
Shelton, on the other hand, will look to go one further than his quarterfinal finish in 2023 when he faces Italy's Lorenzo Sonego for a spot in the semifinals. The Italian earlier overcame American qualifier Learner Tien 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals at a major for the first time.
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