Poland's teenage star Iga Swiatek seems to be following in the footsteps of Ash Barty as she's annexed another of the trophies held by Australia's tennis queen.
The 19-year-old has powered her way to annexing Barty's Adelaide International title by hammering Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-2 in Saturday night's final at Memorial Drive.
It was the second title of what looks as if it could be a stellar career and follows her remarkable French Open victory last year when she also succeeded Barty as the Roland Garros singles champ.
Now, as she celebrates a place in the world's top 15 for the first time, many have been left wondering just how long it could be before Swiatek follows another lead set by Barty - by eventually becoming a world No.1.
She still has a long way to go, naturally, but she is the youngest of all the top-15 players and the manner in which she took the Adelaide crown without dropping a set and for the loss of just 22 games demonstrated her boundless potential.
In the final, she took apart Bencic, a quality player, with 22 winners while making only six unforced errors and seeming almost invulnerable on her first serve, winning 20 of 22 points.
"Not only in my head but tennis-wise, I feel like sometimes I have weeks when everything clicks," Swiatek said as she pondered another searing run, just like her triumph at Roland Garros last October where, again, nobody could take a set off her.
"It's good for me because I can see that I can play good tennis for the whole week.
"It wasn't just one time like the French Open. This gives me more confidence that I'm more developed as a player and I can play good more often.
Shrewd tournament scheduling will also come into the equation with Swiatek's team wanting to ensure the youngster doesn't put her body through too much too soon.
To that end, she has joined a growing list of top players in pulling out of next week's Qatar Open, with the Pole saying that she wants to ensure she avoids injury after her Adelaide heroics.
She follows Barty, who withdrew on Wednesday from the March 1-6 event in Doha while citing a left leg injury, world No.3 Simona Halep and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu in skipping the event.
"We decided... that we're going to withdraw from Doha because of some intense weeks here (in Australia)," Swiatek, who also played a warm-up in Melbourne before the Australian Open, said.
"I don't want to have injury or anything. I want my body to rest properly."
She is scheduled to resume her assault on the rankings at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships next month.
Australian Associated Press
