Swiatek leads Australian Open charge

MELBOURNE: World number one Iga Swiatek is the woman to beat when the Australian Open begins on Monday without retired great Serena Williams and last year’s champion Ashleigh Barty.

With two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka also missing, it is almost certain that there will be a new name on the Daphne Akhurst trophy.

The only former title-holders left in the draw are out-of-sorts Sofia Kenin, who won in 2020, and Victoria Azarenka, the Belarusian whose second Australian Open triumph was a decade ago.

Poland’s Swiatek is clear favourite, having dominated women’s tennis following the retirement in March last year of the Australian Barty.

Swiatek secured eight WTA titles in 2022 and became the first woman in six years to win two Grand Slams in the same season – at Roland Garros and New York – to cement her place at the top of the rankings.

Now she has her sights on a maiden title at Melbourne Park, which would leave the 21-year-old needing only a Wimbledon championship to complete a career slam.

“I’m going to try to kind of cut off everything that happened last year and just focus on the future because I feel like I can take a lot of experience from these tournaments last year,” she said earlier this month.

Swiatek has not had it all her own way though. A 6-2, 6-2 capitulation to American world number three Jessica Pegula in the recent semi-final of the United Cup in Sydney left the Pole in tears.

She complained that she felt “helpless” and unable to show up “physically and mentally”, but that was her only early season blip after three straight-sets wins.

Pegula was outclassed by Barty in the quarter-finals at Melbourne last year, but with the Australian out of the picture, the American will fancy her chances of a maiden Slam.

The 28-year-old played a central role for the victorious USA team at the United Cup to continue her red-hot form from the end of the 2022 season. That included lifting a second singles trophy at the WTA 1000 in Guadalajara.