Rybakina battling her way to top billing

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina is finally set to earn top billing again after setting up a fourthround clash with world number one Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open.

The Russian-turned-Kazakh was a surprise winner of the Venus Rosewater Dish when she beat Ons Jabeur on Centre Court last summer.

However, the leap up the rankings that would normally follow such an achievement was missing because of the WTA and ATP’s decision to remove ranking points in retaliation for the banning of Russian and Belarusian players.

Rybakina stayed down in the 20s – she is currently 25 – and voiced her frustration at the US Open after her first-round match was scheduled on an outside court.

She was assigned Court 13 for her opening match, but has been working her way up the schedule and is likely to make it to Rod Laver Arena after defeating last year’s runner-up, Danielle Collins, 6-2 5-7 6-2.

Swiatek handed poor Cristina Bucsa a pasting, losing just six points in the first set of a 6-0 6-1 victory and winning the first 11 games before the Spanish qualifier finally got on the board.

Third seed Jessica Pegula continued her march through the draw, defeating talented young Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-0 6-2 and next meets former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Coco Gauff followed up her victory over Emma Raducanu with a 6-3 6-2 win against Bernarda Pera. She will also take on a former French Open champion in Jelena Ostapenko, while two-time Melbourne winner Victoria Azarenka saw off last year’s semifinalist Madison Keys 1-6 6-2 6-1.

There was a late-night seed to fall as Maria Sakkari was beaten 7-6 (7-3) 1-6 6-4 by Chinese Lin Zhu.