Iga Swiatek is using her time away from the court at Australian Open 2025 to explore Melbourne’s parks, rest and switch off from tennis.
Yet when she has been in action, Swiatek is proving just how good she is.
MORE: All the results from AO 2025
Much of the pre-tournament focus was on two-time reigning AO champion Aryna Sabalenka and her quest for a record-equalling third straight title.
And while second seed Swiatek can hardly be said to have gone under the radar, it is fair to say that the five-time Grand Slam champion, who won five titles in 2024 and claimed bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, was perhaps not given the pre-tournament hype she deserved.
But Swiatek has dazzled so far.
The 23-year-old has stormed into the fourth round with three straight-sets wins. Her 6-1 6-0 victory over Emma Raducanu at Rod Laver Arena was an elite display of power, precision and well-managed aggression.
Under new coach Wim Fessette, who guided Naomi Osaka to her second AO title in 2021, Swiatek looks imperious.
She has spent just three hours and 31 minutes on court across her wins over Katerina Siniakova (6-3 6-4), Rebecca Sramkova (6-0 6-2) and Raducanu – that’s an average of 70 minutes per match, and having that freshness in the bank could pay dividends later in the tournament.
To put Swiatek’s clinical displays into further context, Sabalenka – who is also yet to drop a set – is averaging 88 minutes on court per match at AO 2025. The current world No.1 spent eight hours and 11 minutes on court last year on her way to the title.
Since we have such data available (from 2016), the minimum time an AO women’s singles champion has spent on court is seven hours, 33 minutes (Ash Barty in 2022).
Key to these rapid victories has been Swiatek’s ability to see sets out without dropping a game. The world No.2 has already won two sets 6-0 at AO 2025.
In completed major matches, Swiatek has now won 12.3% (28/227) of the sets she has played by a 6-0 scoreline – only Margaret Court and Chris Evert have a better rate in the Open era (minimum 100 sets played).
Her tally of 28 bagels is 19 more than any other player on the WTA Tour since Swiatek made her Grand Slam bow in 2019.
Since her WTA Tour debut, Swiatek has won 72 sets 6-0 – a whopping 40 more than next-best Elise Mertens (32) in that timeframe. She has also doubled her tally of bagels at the AO, from two to four.
The record for 6-0 sets won by a women’s champion at a single edition of the AO since it moved to Melbourne Park in 1988 is the five managed by Steffi Graf in 1989. Three players – Monica Seles (1993), Victoria Azarenka (2012) and Li Na (2014) have had four, so Swiatek is well on course to be right up there.
Her three straight sets victories, meanwhile, tally with the form she showed en route to winning her previous Grand Slam crowns.
Swiatek's straight sets wins in her previous slam victories
*Completed matches only
| Tournament | Straight sets wins |
| Roland Garros 2024 | 7 |
| Roland Garros 2020 | 6 |
| Roland Garros 2022 | 6 |
| US Open 2022 | 5 |
| Roland Garros 2023 | 5 |
Taking a wider look at the Pole's form, the numbers really are staggering.
Since the start of 2020, she has won 81 major matches, eight more than next-best Sabalenka (73).
From her WTA Tour debut in 2019, Swiatek is the only player to win 20+ matches at four different events. She has won 20 at AO, 35 at Roland Garros, 20 at the US Open and 20 at the Internazionali d'Italia.
She also owns the highest win percentage (82.7% - 86-18) of any active woman at the Slams.
Her next opponent is Eva Lys – one of the stories of AO 2025. The German is the first lucky loser to qualify for the last 16 since the tournament moved to Melbourne Park in 1988.
Victory for Swiatek would maker her the youngest woman to reach 10 major quarterfinals since Svetlana Kuznetsova at AO 2009.
And Swiatek should have no reason to fear any opponent. Her record against former Slam champions is 39-22. She has won eight of her 12 meetings with Sabalenka, and 11 of her 14 against Coco Gauff, who are potential opponents in the final.
The AO has not always been kind to Swiatek, whose best finish came in a run to the semifinals in 2022, but this could be the year that changes.