Australia Open 2022, Quarter Finals, Tuesday, 26.01.2022
Who can stop Ashleigh Barty from her expected win at the Australian Open 2022? Everyone expects the Australian to triumph, yet there are many more potential winners in the women’s competition!
There are not only top stars in the quarter-finals, but also some you would not have expected. The name Iga Swiatek was mentioned quite often by the experts, but Kaia Kanepi’s name was not mentioned at all.
These two will face each other on Monday night to determine the first semi-finalist. The bookmakers have the Pole clearly in front, so I will take a close look at both her and her opponent in my Swiatek Kanepi tip!
Iga Swiatek, the world No. 9 and 2020 Wimbledon champion, was expected by many Down Under. The 20-year-old is playing her twelfth Grand Slam and her fourth Australian Open.
After two eliminations in the round of 16, she has already achieved her best result. And she did so with performances that were certainly not lacking in aplomb. Already in round 1 she beat Harriet Dart clearly 6-3, 6-0.
She only lost four games to Rebecca Peterson 6-2, 6-2, and Daria Kasatkina had absolutely no chance in round 3 (6-2, 6-3 for Swiatek). The Pole’s first shake-up came in the following round of 16.
Sorana Cirstea took the first set 7-5 before the favourite woke up and secured a 6-3, 6-3. It was definitely her weakest match, not only because of the five double faults. A measly 27% won points on second serve!
This is where she really needs to improve in the quarter-finals. She meets Kaia Kanepi, who has 16 more years under her belt, for the first time. That the Estonian would suddenly appear in the quarter-finals was not on anyone’s radar.
Since 2006, when Swiatek was not even at school, she has been on the big stage. She has reached the round of the best eight twice in Wimbledon, Paris and New York, but never in Melbourne.
Even in the first round, many were surprised that she was able to beat Angelique Kerber in two sets. In the meantime we know that even then she was much stronger than expected. She had just as few problems with Marie Bouzkova afterwards.
She made a brilliant comeback against Maddison Inglis at 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, while her real masterpiece came in the last 16. She lost the first set 5-7 to Aryna Sabalenka, seeded second.
Kanepi came back to take a 6-2, 7-6 and celebrated one of the greatest victories ever. Not only did she come back from 0-1 down twice, she knocked out the current second best tennis player in the world!
My Swiatek Kanepi Tip
Kaia Kanepi goes into the match as an absolute outsider, but the Estonian was perfectly comfortable with this role in the round of 16. Whoever beats Aryna Sabalenka despite being behind has earned a lot of respect.
Iga Swiatek dropped the first set in her round of 16 match, but did not play a good match against Sorana Cirstea. So far she has not had to defeat a top opponent.
My final tip: We will see more than 19.5 games!
