MELBOURNE, Australia — Iga Swiatek rushed through the first set in 26 minutes and completed her 6-0, 6-2 second-round win over Rebecca Sramkova in an hour at the Australian Open.

The five-time Grand Slam champion makes a habit of advancing quickly through the early rounds at the majors. She’s won 12% of her sets in Grand Slams by 6-0, according to the tournament broadcaster.

So when No. 49-ranked Sramkova ended a seven-game losing run by holding serve today, she raised her arm to acknowledge the applause from the Rod Laver Arena crowd. It was one of the few chances she had to celebrate.

“It was good to play in such an efficient way and just finish it quick,” Swiatek said. “Also, you know, just feel the court and how it is in RLA.”

Second-seeded Swiatek next faces 2021 U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu, who recovered from an early break in the second set to hold off Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 7-5.

The No. 61-ranked Raducanu has struggled with injuries since her breakthrough major in 2021, when she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.

She didn’t play a warmup tournament ahead of this year’s Australian Open because of a muscle strain and needed time during her match against Anisimova to get treatment on her back from a trainer.

Raducanu advanced past the second round for the first time at Melbourne Park.”

Swiatek is moving on from the doping infringement which led to her one-month ban last year. And she’s not showing any signs of it being a distraction.

She did everything at pace in the second round, including quick claps of her racket to acknowledge the crowd after her win. Swiatek didn’t face a break point against Sramkova and converted five of the six she had. She finished off points with winners off both sides, and also hit some clean volleys on her ventures to the net.

She’s feeling slightly less pressure this year, too, after losing the No. 1 ranking to two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.

“Yeah, there was a lot of pressure starting the year as No. 1, but I think overall last year I didn’t think about it this much anyway,” she said. “Also, I realized last year that I don’t have 100% influence on what happens with my ranking sometimes. So now I just focus on tennis.”

Emma Navarro, a U.S. Open semifinalist last year and seeded in the top eight for the first time at a major, was in trouble after two service breaks early in the third set before she reeled off four straight games to beat Wang Xiyu 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

She’ll next play Ons Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, who held off Camila Osorio 7-5, 6-3.

Sixth-seeded Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champ and runner-up in Australia two years ago, registered her 50th win in a Grand Slam main draw singles match when she beat American qualifier Iva Jovic 6-0, 6-3.

No. 9 Daria Kasatkina advanced 6-2, 6-0 over Wang Yafan.

Naomi Osaka thought for a few moments after losing a lopsided first set Wednesday, and it gave her the perspective she needed to turn things around and reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2022.

“I just told myself ... if she beats me 6-1, 6-1, then she’s the greatest player ever,” Osaka recalled after her 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 second-round win at the Australian Open over No. 20 Karolina Muchova. “Yeah, I just tried to tell myself to fight.”

That she did, the four-time major winner matching the power that last year’s U.S. Open semifinalist brought to their contest on Kia Arena and finding ways to beat her.

“The score in the first set was very dramatic, but there was key points that I could have maybe won a game here or there. So I kept trying to tell myself that,” Osaka said. “Yeah, just try not to live in the past.”

Reflecting on the past doesn’t always hurt, though. It was a second-round loss to Muchova at the U.S. Open last year that served as motivation.

Osaka lost in the first round at Melbourne Park last year to Caroline Garcia in Osaka’s comeback from maternity leave, but she avenged that with a first-round victory over Garcia earlier this week.

The two-time Australian Open champion next faces Belinda Bencic, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist.