Swiatek sails through to fourth round of Australian Open

MELBOURNE : Poland's former French Open champion Iga Swiatek dominated from the baseline to roll over Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-2 6-3 on Saturday to storm into the Australian Open fourth round.

The 23rd-ranked Kasatkina, a former top-10 player, won the pair's only previous meeting in 2021 but that match was played on grass.

Seventh-seeded Swiatek, who won the claycourt Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2020, hit 24 winners and broke Kasatkina's serve twice in each set to cruise through the contest at Margaret Court Arena in one hour and 34 minutes.

The 20-year-old will next meet either another Russian in 10th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or 38th-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania for a place in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.

"The match was really intense," Swiatek, who has lost only 12 games across three matches this week in the year's opening major, said on court. "It's the beginning of the season so I am pretty fresh and pumped up."

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ken Ferris)