Swiatek sees off Bouzkova to reach Australian Open third round

MELBOURNE - Iga Swiatek resumed her quest for a first Australian Open title and career Grand Slam with a 6-2 6-3 victory over unseeded Marie Bouzkova to reach the third round on Thursday, as she showed no signs of the sluggishness that dogged her in the previous round.

The 24-year-old arrived in Melbourne after two losses during Poland's triumphant United Cup run and had to fight past Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue in the last round. But normal service looked to have resumed against the Czech in John Cain Arena.

"It felt great playing today, I felt more free than in the first round so I wanted to go for it," Swiatek said.

"The conditions were not easy, I don't know if you can tell. It's super windy, so I needed to adjust to that so I'm happy for the performance for sure."

"This is not going to sound like I'm humble, but after winning so much, it's hard to appreciate one match. I'm usually happy after I finish the whole tournament if I win," she added.

"If not, I'm a bit less happy but I for sure have to learn to appreciate every match and not take everything for granted and play to win. It was a good day today and I felt good."

Swiatek eased through the first set, during which she raised the intensity early on and made several successful forays to the net, but the six-times Grand Slam champion found herself on the back foot in the second set as Bouzkova surged to a 3-1 lead.

The second seed got back on level terms after six games and then nailed a forehand winner at the net to edge ahead, going on to seal the win from there and setting up a third-round clash with 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya.

—Reuters