By Tony Fairbairn
- Iga Swiatek [2] def Emma Raducanu 6-1 6-0
- Emma Raducanu is looking for the positives after being dismantled by Iga Swiatek in 70 minutes.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Emma Raducanu refused to give any excuses after being dumped out by Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open.
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It was a rough day at the office for Emma Raducanu as the Brit only picked up one game against world number two Iga Swiatek in a 70 minute demolition job.
The Pole was in top form as her top spin forehand did tons of damage on a hot and sunny day in Melbourne.
Although the scoreline tells a different story, Raducanu played well in spells of the match as she saved two break points to hold in the second game of the match.
However Raducanu was never consistently in Swiatek’s service games and the world number two was ruthless and clinical on return, breaking twice to win the opening set in 32 minutes.
In the second set, Raducanu did her best to fend off the Swiatek attack but to no success as Swiatek broke on her third break point in a long opening game.
Although Raducanu did her best both on serve and return, the Brit was having no impact on Swiatek’s game and a second set bagel was served in 39 minutes to complete a humiliating day.
After the match Raducanu offered no excuses for the defeat and is targeting working on her consistency.
“Today, no excuses of the back or physically, I just didn’t play well and she played very well,” Raducanu told the LTA website.
“It was a match I knew going into it that I had to play really well. Credit to Iga she played good tennis, but I think it was a bit of a case of her playing well and me not so well. That combination is probably not good and resulted in today.
“She’s a great player – moves really well, defends good but I just felt like certain aspects of my game weren’t necessarily firing. If a top player is playing perfect, it’s going to be a difficult match but I just want to work on certain things and make them more consistent.
“The scoreline today was quite harsh, but I look back and I know exactly what I need to do and I take it as feedback. I’m very clear on what happened out there.”
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Raducanu taking positives from Australian Open despite heavy defeat
A heavy defeat for Raducanu will definitely sting as she would have wanted to give Swiatek more of a test.
However the Brit will take positives from what is her first tournament of the season as she made the third round despite a tough draw.
Speaking after the match Raducanu described what positives she can take from the tournament despite the heavy defeat.
“The biggest positive I would say is how I’ve approached every single day,” Raducanu was quoted by The Guardian as saying.
“Before the tournament, in tricky situations with [pulling out of] Auckland and the back, how I handled myself going into the tournament not necessarily the most prepared. Then I’d say even how I handled the match, it’s quite different and I have to be proud of myself and give myself a pat on the back.
“One of my goals for this year is to just be consistent, ride with it. Today is going to be a really good test, but also I’m going to look back and be like I learned a lot from it and got a lot of feedback on what I need to do better.”
Raducanu will be hoping she can do better and be more consistent ahead of the rest of the season.
Ahead of the next stretch of tournaments Raducanu said it has been a solid start to the year and is looking forward to building some momentum.
“It’s the first tournament of the year for me – I’d say it’s a pretty solid start. I played two really good opponents in the first rounds and came through them,” Raducanu told the LTA website.
“It’s a long season ahead and a busy schedule. It depends a lot on ranking for me whether I get into certain tournaments, but I’m looking to play in the Middle East and then America.”
Raducanu’s next tournament is scheduled to be on the 27th of January in Singapore.
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