Melbourne, Jan 20: Iga Świątek knows she has plenty to work on in her bid for a first Australian Open title and a career Grand Slam.
The No. 2-ranked Świątek never got comfortable in a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over No. 130-ranked Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue in the first-round on Monday night.
Novak Djokovic already has a record 10 titles in Australia among his 24 major championships, and just keeps racking up the records.
He equaled two all-time tennis marks by starting his 21st Australian Open and his 81st Grand Slam tournament, and he added another milestone in the last night match Monday with his 100th win at Melbourne Park.
The 38-year-old Djokovic had a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 first-round win over Pedro Martinez to become the first man to win 100 or more matches at three Grand Slam tournaments.
“I like the sound of it,” he said. “Centurion is pretty nice.”
Swiatek won Wimbledon last year to go with her four French Open titles and her victory at the 2022 US Open, leaving the Australian Open as the only major missing from her collection. She has twice reached the semifinals.
Yuan was swinging freely and rifling winners as she took a 5-3 lead, and Świątek had to switch things up.
“I was a bit rusty at the beginning,” she said. “Many ups and downs, but overall I have some stuff to work on. I’ll just focus on that.”
From 5-3 down in the first, she held a service game at love to force Yuan to serve for the set.
Świątek broke back to level and then, in the tiebreaker, she remained composed and converted on her second set point.
Świątek had a disrupted preparation for the year’s first major, losing two singles matches at the United Cup but helping Poland win the title for the first time.
One of those losses was to No. 3 Coco Gauff, who also had some struggles before beating Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 6-3 in the opening match on Rod Laver Arena on Day 2.
Gauff has won two Grand Slam titles but, like Swiatek, has never gone past the semifinals at Melbourne Park.
She had six double-faults in the first set against Rakhimova, but found her range in the second. It’s not a new issue — she had a tour-high 431 double-faults last year — but is something Gauff is working on.