- Emma Raducanu crushed by second seed
- Iga Swiatek won 6-1 6-0 in under an hour
Emma Raducanu is out of the Australian Open, hacked apart by the Pole axe of Iga Swiatek.
The British No2 has had a couple of fine wins here in Melbourne against good opponents but this was a different level entirely against one of the favourites for this title.
The 6-1, 6-0 result did full justice to the 23-year-old Swiatek’s dominance and it was the heaviest defeat of Raducanu’s career since she lost by the reverse scoreline to Elena Rybakina, 550 miles to the North-East in Sydney.
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, 22, 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.
The good news for Raducanu was there were no signs of the back issues which affected her against Amanda Anisimova in the second round. The bad news was the issues with her serve remain.
The rest of Raducanu’s game papered over some cracks in the first two rounds but the truth is her serve has not looked fit for purpose at Grand Slam level.
There were 15 double faults in the first match and five in the second. Against Swiatek she hit four doubles but 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 all has the air of a work in progress.
A back spasm in December curtailed her pre-season and interrupted work she and 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.
Swiatek, always a fast starter, won the first six points of the match and Raducanu had to pull out some of her best tennis of the week to get on the board for 1-1.
One drop-shot-lob volley combination was delightful. But that was only a brief interlude in the percussive thump of the Swiatek backhand; the fizz of her topspun forehand.
From there Raducanu lost the next 11 games in a row. She is not the first to suffer such a mauling at Swiatek’s hands and will not be the last.
Raducanu must lick her wounds and then get back on the practice court to sort out that serve of hers.
