Iga Suatek is through to a third-round match against Emma Radukanu at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Iga Suatek breezed through the first set in 26 minutes and completed her 6-0, 6-2 second-round victory over Rebecca Sramkova in under an hour. Australian Open.

The five-time Grand Slam champion makes a habit of advancing quickly through the early rounds at majors. He has won nearly 12% of his sets in Grand Slams by 6-0, which puts him in exclusive company.

So when the 49th-ranked Sramkova ended a seven-game losing streak by holding serve on Thursday, she raised her hand to acknowledge the applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd. It was one of his few opportunities to celebrate.

“It was good to play so well and finish so quickly,” Suatek said. “Also, you know, just feel the court and what it’s like at RLA.”

Second seed Suitek next faces 2021 US Open champion Emma Radukanu, who recovered from an early break in the second set to hold off Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5.

Taylor Fritz wasted no time advancing to the third round, dropping just eight games across two rounds and spending just over three hours on court.

2024 US Open runner-up And the 38-year-old beat No. 4 seed Christian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 in a third-round match. Gail Monfils, Who was last week Oldest player to win ATP Tour title.

Also leading the men’s side was local hope Alex de Minaur, seeded 8, at No.16 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 19 Karen Khachanov and No. 21 Ben Shelton, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.

Radukanu has been battling injuries since his breakthrough major in 2021, when he became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.

She missed a warm-up tournament before this year’s Australian Open because of a muscle strain and needed time off from a trainer to receive treatment during her match against Anisimova.

After going out of the second round for the first time at Melbourne Park, 61st-ranked Radukanu was confident he would recover in time for his next challenge against Suatek.

“It will be a very good match for me, another chance to test my game,” he said. “Going into it, I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to swing.”

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In the second round he did everything including a quick clap of his racket to acknowledge the crowd after his victory. Suatek did not face a break point against Sramkova and converted five of her six. He finished the point with both side winners and also hit some neat volleys on his venture into the net.

She is feeling a little less pressure this year after losing the No. 1 ranking to two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.

“Yes, there was a lot of pressure at the start of the year as No. 1, but I think overall last year I didn’t think about it that much anyway,” he said. “Also, I realized last year that sometimes I don’t have 100% control over what happens with my ranking. So now I’m just focusing on tennis.”

Emma Navarro, a US Open semifinalist last year and seeded into the top eight of a major for the first time, was in trouble after two service breaks early in the third set and she fought back in four straight games to beat Wang Jiu 6-3, 3-6, 6- 4.

He leapt from the baseline to the net, and made a big, rolling swing of his arm for another hard-fought, three-set win.

“It was really hard the whole time … it was really hard at the end,” Navarro said. “There was some good tennis in the last games.”

She next plays three-time Grand Slam runner-up Once Jabeur, who battled asthma but held off Camila Osorio 7-5, 6-3.

Sixth seed Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and runner-up in Australia two years ago, registered her 50th win in a Grand Slam main draw singles match when she beat American qualifier Eva Jovic 6-0, 6-3.

No. 9 Daria Kasatkina also advanced 6-2, 6-0 over Wang Yafan to face No. 24 Yulia Putintseva in the third round.