World number one Iga Swiatek wasted little time Wednesday in reaching the third round of the Australian Open, sweeping past Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-2, 6-3 on Rod Laver Arena.
The title favourite from Poland said after a tough first-round examination that she needed to find some extra “intensity”, and she found the spark against the 21-year-old world number 84.
The 2022 French and US Open champion, also 21, is looking to win the Australian Open for the first time and reached the last 32 after 1hr 24min of gritty resistance from Osorio.
“The match was much tougher than the score says,” said Swiatek, who made her Australian Open debut in 2019.
“It was really intense physically and Camila didn’t give me many points for free, so I needed to really work for every and each of them.
“But I’m happy that I was consistent and I can play the next round,” added Swiatek, a year after recording her best result at Melbourne Park, losing to Danielle Collins in the semi-finals.
The three-time major winner — she also triumphed at Roland Garros in 2020 — will face either 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada or Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa in the third round.