Emma Raducanu says she leaves Melbourne positive about her progress and development despite suffering the heaviest defeat of her grand slam career to Iga Swiatek, the No 2 seed, in the third round of the Australian Open. “Three weeks ago when I was in Auckland, at the end of last year, I was doing pool rehab,” she said.
“To be on a 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 a positive that I was able to beat two top opponents in the first two rounds.
“But today, no excuses of the back or physically. I didn’t play well. She played very well. Given the preparation we had, we have to be grateful to be in this position.”
Raducanu had reached the third round here for the first time with two solid wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 26th seed, and Amanda Anisimova. Swiatek, however, proved a step too far as she was completely dominant throughout her 6-1, 6-0 win. From 1-1 in the opening set, Swiatek rolled through 11 consecutive games to take the match after annihilating Raducanu’s first and second serve while completely overpowering the Briton with her far superior pace and weight of shot.
“The scoreline was quite harsh,” said Raducanu. “I look back and know exactly what I need to do. I’m very clear on what happened. If I’m not necessarily able to hold my service games or dictate, it seeps into the rest of my game.”
Swiatek, a five-time grand slam champion, has built a reputation for her tendency to completely dominate quality players, frequently inflicting 6-0 and 6-1 scorelines on her rivals.
“I wouldn’t say I’m ruthless,” she said. “I just try to have the same kind of attitude and same kind of focus no matter what the score is. But it’s not like I want to show something. I’m just playing my game. If it’s working, why stop? I’ve also seen many matches when someone comes back [after] being down 2-5 or something. You always have to just keep going..”
