Iga Swiatek avenged her Australian Open ouster at the hands of Linda Noskova, beating the Czech teenager 6-4, 6-0 in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
Second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz and third-seeded Jannik Sinner each advanced in straight sets in the men’s draw, but fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev lost to No. 32 seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-4.
Swiatek advanced to the round of 16, where the top-ranked Polish star will face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan. Putintseva beat Madison Keys 6-4, 6-1, part of a tough day for American singles players.
Francis Tiafoe lost 6-3, 6-3 to Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Katie Volynets was eliminated by Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 4-6, 6-0. The 11th-seeded Tsitsipas will face Lehecka in the men’s round of 16.
Noskova beat Swiatek in three sets in Australia, becoming the first teen to beat a No. 1-ranked woman at that event in 25 years. The rematch was competitive for a set, but Swiatek eventually rolled to victory in just under 73 minutes.“I made some mistakes at the beginning. I tried to maybe play to finish the rallies too early,” Swiatek said.
“But I knew that if I’m going to try to stay consistent and make a little bit less mistakes, my chances may come.”
Jasmine Paolini won another tight match against Anna Kalinskaya, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Paolini won the Dubai Championships two weeks ago, rallying to win a three-set final over Kalinskaya.
