{"id":438503,"date":"2026-01-26T12:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438503\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T12:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T12:11:09","slug":"tennis-wta-australian-open-2026-swiatek-upends-inglis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/438503\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis, WTA \u2013 Australian Open 2026: Swiatek upends Inglis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iga Swiatek defeated Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis 6-0, 6-3 to continue her relentless pursuit of a career Grand Slam. In a match that lasted just 73 minutes, the 24-year-old Pole dominated from the baseline, refusing to allow the Melbourne crowd to lift the local underdog.<\/p>\n

With this win, Swiatek reached her 14th career Grand Slam quarterfinal and achieved a historic milestone: she is now the youngest woman to reach six consecutive Major quarterfinals since Serena Williams.<\/p>\n

Clash againSt Rybakina<\/p>\n

The upcoming quarterfinal against Elena Rybakina represents a significant jump in quality. Rybakina, the No 5 seed, reached the last eight following a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens. While Swiatek leads their overall head-to-head 6-5, the Kazakh star has traditionally been a \u201cthorn in the side\u201d for the world No 2.<\/p>\n

Rybakina won their most recent competitive meeting at the WTA Finals in Riyadh in late 2025 and famously defeated Swiatek in their only previous Australian Open encounter in 2023.<\/p>\n

The matchup features a fascinating clash of styles: Swiatek\u2019s heavy-topspin aggression and elite movement versus Rybakina\u2019s flat, booming serve and effortless power. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the best matchups in women\u2019s tennis,\u201d and the stakes could not be higher. For Swiatek, a win would move her closer to becoming only the seventh woman in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam. For Rybakina, it is a chance to return to the final for the first time since 2023 and prove that her power remains the ultimate equalizer against the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Extreme Heat and Strategic Adjustments<\/p>\n


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

While the performance on court was seamless, the conversation after the match shifted quickly to the brutal conditions awaiting the players in Melbourne. Upon being told that temperatures were forecast to climb well above the 40-degree mark, the No 2 seed was visibly stunned.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bI don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to do. It\u2019s supposed to be like 42 Celsius right?\u201d Swiatek asked. When corrected that the forecast had risen to 44 degrees, she replied, \u201c44?!?! Oh my god. I have no idea what I\u2019m gonna do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The extreme heat forecast for Tuesday has forced tournament organizers to adjust schedules, but Swiatek remains focused on the marginal gains. Having previously triumphed at the 2025 Wimbledon and US Open, her \u201cone-two punch\u201d and footwork have looked sharp throughout the first week. She has dropped only one set so far, a minor lapse against Anna Kalinskaya in the third round, before returning to her \u201cbagel-manufacturing\u201d best against Inglis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iga Swiatek defeated Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis 6-0, 6-3 to continue her relentless pursuit of a career Grand…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-438503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}