Rampant Swiatek ends Inglis fairytale at Australian Open
Poland's Iga Swiatek hits a return against Germany's Eva Lys during their women's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP)
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Six-time major champion Iga Swiatek ended the fairytale run of qualifier Maddison Inglis with a rampant display at the Australian Open on Monday to set up a quarter-final with fifth seed Elena Rybakina.
The Polish second
seed, who is chasing a maiden Melbourne title, was in a different class to the
Australian with a 6-0, 6-3 demolition job on Rod Laver Arena.
It brought to a
close the "life-changing" run of Inglis, who was thrust into the
primetime contest when Naomi Osaka withdrew from their third-round match with
injury.
Just being in
the fourth round earned Inglis Aus$480,000 (US$330,000) and crucial ranking
points which she said before the match was "like a dream".
But, as
expected, her tournament went no further with Swiatek on a mission.
"I felt
pretty confident from the beginning," said Swiatek, who has won four
French Opens, the US Open and Wimbledon but is yet to lift the trophy in
Melbourne.
Last year, she
surged into the last four but failed to get past eventual winner Madison Keys.
"I felt
like the pace of the ball was much different than in my last round, so I needed
to adjust with my legs and really be precise with the footwork. And I'm happy
that I went for it."
Swiatek made a
fast start, holding to love and breaking Inglis straight away.
When the
Australian won her first point of the match the home crowd let out a massive
roar, but they had little more to cheer about as a red-hot Swiatek got to work.
She was totally
dominant in racing 5-0 clear and wrapped up the set in 32 minutes, with Inglis
winning just 13 points.
Against the
odds, three consecutive unforced errors handed Inglis a break in the first game
of set two, with the 28-year-old throwing her arms the air and celebrating as
if she had won the match.
Her joy was
short-lived with Swiatek immediately breaking back and romping home with
minimum fuss.


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