Australian Open tennis championship day 7 on January 18, 2025.

The only women’s match featuring Grand Slam singles champions in the third round at the Australian Open turned out to be an overpowering win by Iga Swiatek over Emma Raducanu on Saturday (January 18, 2025).

Swiatek won the final 11 games of the match to beat 2021 U.S. Open champion Raducanu 6-1, 6-0 and become the first player through to the fourth round.

The No. 2-ranked Swiatek, who agreed to accept a one-month suspension in a doping case late last year, has won the French Open four times and the U.S. Open in 2022. She is nearly halfway to a possible Australian title — her best result here has been a semifinal appearance in 2022, losing to eventual runner-up Danielle Collins.

“I hit a few shots and afterwards I thought, This is what I practice for.’ From the beginning I felt like I was playing well,” said Swiatek, who won 59 points and lost 29 in the match. “I felt pretty confident, so at the end I could push for even more.” Eighth-seeded Emma Navarro is also into the fourth round after beating Ons Jabeur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Navarro has now played in 30 three-set matches at WTA level since the start of 2024, the most of any player over that span.

Navarro was joined by another American into the fourth round, 20-year-old Alex Michelsen, who beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round. On Saturday, Michelsen beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

“I played unbelievably, I don’t really know what’s going on,” he said on-court after his win. ”I am super happy . . . not a lot of words right now.”

Scratchy Navarro dumps Jabeur out

Emma Navarro ended the Australian Open of triple Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur, but it was another scratchy performance from the three-set specialist.

The 23-year-old American eighth seed clawed through 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Margaret Court Arena to make the last 16 in Melbourne for the first time

Emma Navarro of the U.S. celebrates winning her third round match against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

She will play either Russian ninth seed Daria Kasatkina or Kazakh 24th seed Yulia Putintseva for a place in the quarter-finals.

But Navarro, the daughter of billionaire American businessman Ben Navarro, owner of Credit One Bank, again struggled to display the killer touch.

She only converted six from 14 break points and was herself broken six times.

It was the third match in a row she has needed three sets to progress.

No other WTA player has been through more three-setters than Navarro since the beginning of 2024, with the American going the distance 31 times.

“I love three sets,” she joked afterwards.

Navarro’s frailties were exposed in the first set when she raced 5-0 clear but then imploded, giving up the next four games, but hung on.

She was broken twice again early in set two and again at 5-3 with the Tunisian producing some astonishing drop shots to level the match.

But Jabeur fluffed her chance in set three, squandering three break points in the third game, with Navarro then breaking for 3-2 and rounding out the win

“I came out playing really well, but she had a really great four games (in set one),” said Navarro, a US Open semi-finalist last year.

“In the second set I just wanted to stick in there.”

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina joined Swiatek in the last 16 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Dayana Yastremska, but only after receiving treatment on her back, while eighth seed Emma Navarro and ninth seed Daria Kasatkina also advanced.

German Eva Lys became the first lucky loser to reach the women’s fourth round since 1988 when she beat Romanian Jaqueline Cristian 4-6 6-3 6-3, her reward a date with Swiatek.

Michelsen also an early winner

American Alex Michelsen was also an early winner on day seven of the championships, racing past 2023 semifinalist Karen Khachanov 6-3 7-6(5) 6-2 on John Cain Arena.

The 20-year-old Michelsen, who rallied from 3-0 down in the second set, joined compatriot Tommy Paul in the fourth round with four more Americans playing third-round ties on Saturday. “It’s easy to look at the score and be like, ‘Oh, he’s cruising’ but it doesn’t feel like that during the match,” said Michelsen.

“These guys are always applying pressure, giving energy to try to knock you off your game.”

Gael Monfils sends Taylor Fritz packing

French flair topped American firepower as Gael Monfils turned back the clock to dump fourth seed Taylor Fritz out of the Australian Open on Saturday (January 18, 2025) and book a place in the last 16.

At 38, Monfils is enjoying a late-career flourish and Fritz felt the full brunt of it as the Frenchman rallied from a set down to claim a thrilling 3-6 7-5 7-6(1) 6-4 win in the afternoon sunshine at Margaret Court Arena.

Soaking up punishment from Fritz with a stonewall defence, Monfils dismantled the American with pure tennis “IQ” and danced a jig after sealing the win with an ace down the “T”.

The win made Monfils the second oldest man to reach the fourth round since 1988 when the tournament started having full, 128-player draws. Only Federer, in 2020, was older.

“It was an unbelievable match,” said Monfils, who is riding an eight-match winning streak. “Taylor is that strong, serving very well.

“I felt like I could move great today and the game-plan was to hold my best line and definitely change the tempo. I think I’ve done the job,” he added.