Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open dream is over in brutal fashion after being outclassed by rampant no.2 seed Iga Swiatek
Emma Raducanu suffered her heaviest defeat at a Grand Slam as she was crushed by No2 seed Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old shipped 11 games in a row to lose 6-1, 6-0 in a little over an hour.
It was a stern early test of Raducanu’s recent resolution to maintain an even emotional keel through the ups and downs of tennis.
But she was rational and philosophical after the match, while admitting that urgent work is required on a serve which has badly let her down this week.
‘She played very well and I didn’t play very well, so… it’s just not a great combination,’ said Raducanu.
‘I’m very clear on what happened out there: if I’m not able to hold my service games or dictate, I feel like it seeps into the rest of my game. On my second serve, how the point is structured from then on, you feel a lot more pressure.’
Emma Raducanu (pictured) is out of the Australian Open, hacked apart by Poland’s Iga Swiatek in brutal fashion
Raducanu, 22, had no answers, with the second seed cruising to a 6-1 6-0 win in the third round
Raducanu was able to paper over some cracks in the first two rounds but the truth is her serve has not looked fit for purpose at Grand Slam level. Once she ran into a truly elite player, Swiatek took a pick axe to those cracks and turned them into gaping fissures.
Asked what will be her priority to work on going forward, Raducanu said: ‘Serving. The first two matches I got away with it against two top players because I was able to defend and move, use the rest of my game. But that needs to improve.’
There were 15 double faults in her first-round match and five in the second. Against Swiatek she hit four doubles and also foot-faulted three times, a sign she is not comfortable with her action, perhaps that she is throwing the ball too far forward and having to chase it into the court.
Her grip – or at least the way she presents the racket at the start of her motion – has changed since the end of last season and it feels like a work in progress.
A back spasm in December curtailed her pre-season and interrupted work she and coach Nick Cavaday were doing on the most important shot in tennis.
It is understood that the wide serve from the advantage side was a focus and she has indeed hit that well this week.
But the lack of a true kick second serve makes her too predictable and the best returners – Swiatek is certainly among that number – take ruthless advantage. Raducanu won only 23 per cent of points on her second serve.
Iga Swiatek sent a message to her rivals in what was a scintillating on-court performance
These two players were born only 18 months apart and were briefly level on one Grand Slam title apiece.
But Raducanu is still making her way in the game while Swiatek is making history, with five majors in the bank and plenty more, surely, to come.
She has never won this title but, with Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff on the other side of the draw, is a heavy favourite to at least reach the final.
The No2 seed wins so many sets 6-0 or 6-1 that ‘the Swiatek bakery’ has become a running joke on social media; Raducanu was the unwilling customer here, served with a breadstick and a bagel.
Raducanu has now faced Swiatek four times and is yet to win a set.
A couple of their other meetings were competitive but this was anything but – in fact it was a mirror image of their meeting in the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon juniors, where eventual champion Swiatek won 6-0, 6-1.
‘I would say the difference between playing her today and playing her in Stuttgart, where I was pretty close, is I was serving really well in Stuttgart,’ said Raducanu.
‘I think the groundstroke aspects of my game are actually probably better now. I just don’t think I was able to be in that situation too often today where we were on level terms from the back of the court.
The second seed has won five career grand slam titles – she is in course to win a sixth in Melbourne
‘I’d say I’m definitely improving. It’s just one big factor is not as good.’
The Raducanu serve has been a volatile area of her game. It was incredibly effective during her run to the US Open title in 2021.
Its slicey, slippy nature was perfectly suited to the slick Flushing Meadows courts and from beginning to end – an ace on championship point – it earned her plenty of free points.
On the regular tour, as she began to play on a variety of surfaces – and players got to know her game – her serve looked less effective.
Raducanu has admitted to being a compulsive tinkerer and over the summer she abbreviated the action, then lengthened it back out in the autumn.
She served well in Malaga during the Billie Jean King Cup finals in November but her motion has looked different again in Melbourne – and less effective.
The only positive from this chastening defeat was there were no signs of physical discomfort, after the back spasm in December which put Raducanu out of the Auckland Open and affected her in the second-round win over Amanda Anisimova.
‘Three weeks ago when I was in Auckland I was doing pool rehab,’ she said. ‘To be on a tennis court playing matches and competing is something I have to be grateful for.
‘I started hitting when I came here 18 days ago, I have to take it as a positive that I was able to beat top opponents in the first two rounds.
‘Today, no excuses from the back or physically.’
Asked what comes next, Raducanu said: ‘I don’t know, my team will probably tell me to take it easy.
‘But I feel like I’ve got things to work on, I just want to get into that as soon as possible. I feel like I’m speaking from a pretty rational place. I’m not necessarily too emotional either way. I think I’ll just get back to it pretty quickly.’
