Emma Raducanu's Australian Open hopes were extinguished in emphatic fashion by a rampant Iga Swiatek on Saturday.
Raducanu was playing in a third-round match at Melbourne Park for the first time in her career, but the 2021 US Open winner was no match for Swiatek.
The world number two controlled the court at Rod Laver Arena, and powered to a 6-1 6-0 triumph in just 70 minutes.
Swiatek showed her class with some exceptional shots, and did not offer Raducanu a single break point throughout, despite having to bounce back from 0-30 down in the final game.
A brilliant forehand winner teed up match point, and a long return from Raducanu sealed Swiatek's passage into the last 16.
While Raducanu will lick her wounds after a fourth career loss from as many meetings with Swiatek, the Pole – who was knocked out at this stage last year – looks well primed for a deep run in the season's first major.
Next up will be 128th-ranked Eva Lys of Germany, who lost in qualifying but was given a spot in the main draw when someone withdrew about 10 minutes before her first-round match.
Lys defeated Jaqueline Cristian 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and is the first "lucky loser" to get to the Australian Open's fourth round since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.
Later Saturday, No. 4 Taylor Fritz, the runner-up at last year's U.S. Open, became the highest-seeded man to leave the bracket, defeated by 38-year-old Gael Monfils 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4. Monfils joined Roger Federer as the only men 38 or older to get to the fourth round in Melbourne since the field expanded to 128 players in 1988.
At the other end of the age spectrum, a pair of young Californians who have been pals for a while and trained together in the offseason — Learner Tien, 19, and Alex Michelsen, 20 — earned debuts in the fourth round at a major. Ben Shelton, who is 22, won, too. No. 1 Jannik Sinner, however, eliminated American Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and will next face No. 13 Holger Rune, who beat Miomir Kecmanovic 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Tien, a qualifier ranked 121st, followed up his surprising win against No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in a five-setter that ended at 3:00 am on Friday with a 7-6 (10), 6-3, 6-3 victory over Corentin Moutet of France. Michelsen, who is ranked 42nd, overwhelmed No. 19 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-2. It was the second time Michelsen knocked off a top-20 seed this week after beating No. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2023 Australian Open runner-up, in the first round.
Shelton, the 21st seed and a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2023, defeated No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) and will take on Monfils on Monday.
Michelsen will try to send another high seed packing when he plays No. 8 Alex de Minaur, an Australian who beat No. 31 Francisco Cerúndolo 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-3. Tien faces 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6), 6-1, 6-2 winner over Fabian Marozsan.
Others who now will get a chance to play for a quarterfinal berth after victories Saturday included No. 6 Elena Rybakina, No. 8 Emma Navarro and No. 9 Daria Kasatkina. Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, beat No. 32 Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 6-4, Navarro eliminated three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Kasatkina got past No. 24 Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-1. Unseeded Veronika Kudermetova beat No. 15 Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4, 6-2.
No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, who is a two-time Slam finalist, was eliminated by No. 28 Elina Svitolina 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Danielle Collins was booed both before and after her 6-4, 6-4 loss to No. 19 Madison Keys. In the previous round, the 10th-seeded Collins had a back-and-forth with the crowd. Collins received treatment on her left knee in the second set.
Navarro, who reached her first major semifinal at Flushing Meadows in September, has won all three of her matches in Melbourne this year in three sets. That means she has been involved in 30 tour-level three-setters since the start of last season, the most of any female player.
