Fifth seed Elena Rybakina booked her place in the Australian Open semi-finals on Wednesday with a dominant second set display to hand six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek a 7-5, 6-1 defeat at Melbourne Park.
Iga Swiatek has dismissed suggestions the career slam is driving her Australian Open campaign this year, with the world number two saying on Friday that she tries to block out outside noise and focus only on "grinding match by match".
Iga Swiatek heads into Melbourne Park with the Australian Open title the only gap on her Grand Slam resume, but the world number two is keen to avoid setting herself targets for the new season and says her main goal is to improve her game.
World number two Iga Swiatek joined a growing chorus of players demanding more privacy off the courts at the Australian Open after cameras captured Coco Gauff in a post-match meltdown that the American said should have been a personal moment.
Jannik Sinner brushed aside heat concerns to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals, while Iga Swiatek ended home hopes by overpowering Maddison Inglis in Melbourne.
Swiatek rejects 'Battle of the Sexes' and backs mixed team events
IMAGES from the Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park in Melbourne on Thursday.
Elena Rybakina qualified for the WTA Finals' last four, beating an error-prone Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 on Monday, while Amanda Anisimova beat fellow American Madison Keys 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Riyadh.
Coco Gauff started her quest for a maiden Australian Open title with a straight games win over Kamilla Rakhimova to reach the second round.
Poland battled past Switzerland 2-1 in the United Cup final on Sunday to banish the pain of title-round defeats in the previous two editions and secure a long-awaited maiden triumph in the season-opening mixed-team competition.
Six weeks ago Amanda Anisimova couldn't win a single game against Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final. On Wednesday the American beat the Polish second seed in straight sets.
The world number closed out the victory despite a few service wobbles late on, improving her win-loss record against Rybakina to 8-5.
New Melbourne queen Rybakina happy to find highest level again
The WTA has backed players' demands for greater privacy at tournaments after footage of Coco Gauff smashing her racket off court at the Australian Open sparked debate over camera use in player areas.
The opening Grand Slam of the year begins at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Top trio eye Grand Slam glory with Sabalenka targeting third Australian Open crown
Third seed Iga Swiatek will play against Italy's Jasmine Paolini in her first Cincinnati Open final.
Iga Swiatek captured her first Cincinnati Open title on Monday by beating Jasmine Paolini in straight sets.
Top seed Jessica Pegula contained Iga Swiatek's heavy topspin game on grass to earn a 6-4, 7-5 victory on Saturday and lift the Bad Homburg Open title.
Iga Swiatek arrives at the US Open with her sights set on a seventh Grand Slam title and a potential return to World No. 1 to cap what she calls a remarkable year of redemption following "the worst experience of my life".
Sharing pictures on their X handle, Wimbledon posted: 'Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek share a dance at the Champions' Dinner.'
Jessica Pegula moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career on Wednesday, with a 6-3, 7-6(1) win over fellow American and fourth seed Amanda Anisimova at Melbourne Park.
Naomi Osaka produced a commanding performance to knock out third seed Coco Gauff.
Former champion Iga Swiatek kicked off her US Open campaign with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Colombia's Emiliana Arango on Tuesday as the Pole aims to keep her hot streak on track in New York.
Tough road for defending champion Keys
The 35th-ranked Bencic did not do a lot wrong but was broken twice in the first set and three times in the second as a sizzling Swiatek brought her A-game to what turned into a one-sided contest.
Iga Swiatek, who beat American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the Wimbledon final on Saturday to win her sixth Grand Slam title.
Iga Swiatek survived a surprise U.S. Open second-round test on Thursday as men's top seed Jannik Sinner and Japan's four-times major winner Naomi Osaka cruised through.
Aryna Sabalenka will aim to take a huge stride towards a third Australian Open title in four years when the Belarusian top seed clashes with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina on Thursday in a semi-final simmering with geopolitical tension.
Iga Swiatek demolished Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in just under an hour to clinch her first Wimbledon title and fifth Grand Slam crown overall.
Poland's Iga Swiatek could become only the third woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win all of her first six major finals, joining Margaret Court and Monica Seles, but Swiatek is not taking the big-hitting Anisimova lightly.
Keys, who captured her first Grand Slam title at the tournament last year, said she was still getting used to the surreal experience of seeing herself immortalised around Melbourne Park.
Iga Swiatek bulldozed her way to a maiden Wimbledon title on Saturday to take her Grand Slam tally to six
Teenager Andreeva marches into Wimbledon last 16
Fourth seed Iga Swiatek solved crossword puzzles during an hour-long rain interruption on Thursday but kept her focus to earn a 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova and reach the Bad Homburg Open semi-finals.
The Polish eighth seed walloped Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 7-5 to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time.
Images from the US Open matches played at Flushing Meadows on Saturday
Five-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek crushed second seed Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 6-3 on Friday to reach the Bad Homburg Open final and stay in the hunt for her first career title on grass.
Iga Swiatek arrives at Roland Garros this month under a cloud of uncertainty, with the Pole enduring one of the toughest stretches of her career just before the defence of her French Open title.
On Monday, the Polish eighth seed found her grasscourt wings to fly into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a soaring 6-4, 6-1 victory over Danish 23rd seed Clara Tauson.
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