Emma Raducanu has been eliminated from the Stuttgart Open after a battling quarter-final defeat by Iga Swiatek.
Britain’s 2021 US Open winner delivered another spirited display against the reigning world No1 following earlier victories over Angelique Kerber and Linda Noskova that came after decisive Billie Jean King Cup qualifying wins for Great Britain against Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry in France last week, but fell in straight sets 7-6, 6-3 at Porsche-Arena in Germany on Friday evening.
Swiatek will now face fourth seed Elena Rybakina for a place in the clay final, against either Marketa Vondrousova, Coco Gauff or Marta Kostyuk.
It was an encouraging quarter-final performance from Raducanu, who has slipped to 303 in the world rankings after a torrid and injury-plagued 2023.
Raducanu came into the contest on a high after winning four matches in a row for the first time since her US Open title and raised confidence levels were reflected in the opening exchanges.
Several booming returns from the 21-year-old turned a 0-40 deficit into an immediate break of serve, but Swiatek levelled after edging a second game that featured seven deuces.
That see-saw battle set the tone for a marathon 70-minute opening set which produced plenty of high-quality ground strokes from both sides of the net.
The match went with serve from that point, with Raducanu superbly holding her nerve at 5-4 and 6-5 down to force the first set to a tie-break.
Swiatek completely dominated the tie-break though, winning the first four points before closing it out 7-2.
Raducanu was quickly in trouble again in the second set, falling 2-0 behind and covered in clay after losing her footing on the baseline.
She continued to fight and fended off break points in her next two service games to stay in the match.
But Swiatek kept up the pressure to finally end Raducanu's resistance and move into the last four.
