Iga Swiatek reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2022
| Venue: Melbourne Park Dates: 16-29 January |
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Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina will go head-to-head within the battle of the 2022 Grand Slam champions because the fourth spherical of the Australian Open will get beneath manner on Sunday.
World primary Swiatek, winner of final yr’s French and US Opens, will face Wimbledon champion Rybakina for a spot within the quarter-finals.
However followers descending on Rod Laver Enviornment for the encounter ought to think about themselves warned – no extra bakery chants.
Poland’s Swiatek has proved herself a dab hand at meting out bagels – when a set is gained 6-0 – and breadsticks – a 6-1 scoreline – all through her profession to this point.
In 2022 alone, she recorded 22 bagels – the very best since Serena Williams’ 25 in 2013 – and 20 breadsticks, and beat Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-0 6-1 on Friday to progress to the fourth spherical in Melbourne.
Her ‘bakery’ even has a devoted web site, however Swiatek is not going to be calling in any time quickly.
“I heard it when somebody screamed in regards to the bakery, however I do not wish to hear stuff like that through the match,” the 21-year-old mentioned.
Sunday shall be solely the second tour assembly between her and Kazakhstan’s Rybakina – Swiatek successful in straight units in Ostrava in 2021.
Rybakina is seeded twenty second for the primary Grand Slam of the yr, however insisted she wouldn’t be fazed by taking up the highest seed so early within the match.
“To be sincere, it does not matter which spherical I play as a result of I believe Iga is a superb participant. It doesn’t matter what, the objective is to beat the highest gamers,” mentioned the 23-year-old.
“For positive she’s very sturdy bodily and mentally. I believe that if I’ll play my recreation, aggressive, I’ll be stable from the start till the top.”
The prize shall be a quarter-final towards both seventh seed Coco Gauff of america or Latvian seventeenth seed Jelena Ostapenko, who’re second on Margaret Court docket Enviornment.
Within the males’s draw, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime takes on the unseeded Czech Jiri Lehecka, whereas Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz takes on American Sebastian Korda.
Sunday’s evening session is headlined by third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas – but to drop a set within the match – as he faces Italy’s Jannik Sinner.
Sinner, seeded fifteenth, shall be in search of revenge after a straight-set defeat by the Greek on the quarter-final stage 12 months in the past.