Iga Swiatek survives Sofia Kenin test to reach Australian Open second round

Iga Swiatek held off a determined Sofia Kenin to book her place in the second round of the Australian Open.

After coming from a break down twice in the first set, Swiatek clinched a 7-6(2), 6-2 victory after one hour and 51 minutes.

The win marked the Pole’s 17^th consecutive victory, with her last loss dating back to September.

‘’I felt a little bit off in terms of the timing. You could see I played a couple of frames," Swiatek said after the match.

"For sure, the temperature was higher than any match I played this season. I needed to adjust to that.

‘’The balls were a little bit flying out of control. That's normal in these conditions.

"At the beginning I knew I could do a little bit more in terms of the placement. I wanted to be more aggressive.

‘’But on the other hand I was backing down a little bit. I just wanted to go forward and be proactive and have initiative.

‘’For sure when I started second set, it was a little bit easier for me to do that.’’

Next up for Swiatek is a meeting with Danielle Collins who knocked her out of the 2022 Australian Open semifinals – the year which she registered her best result in Melbourne.

‘’For sure I can't say that I have easy draw here," Swiatek said.

"I'll try to do my best. Danielle is a really good player. We played really tight matches.

‘’On the other hand our last match was pretty -- I mean, from the score, I had it under control. We'll see.

"Every match is different. I'm not going to anticipate anything. I'm just going to be ready and we'll see.’’