PARIS, France — Emma Raducanu said she felt “exposed” against Iga Swiatek in her second round loss at the French Open, and the margin of defeat showed her the distance between herself and the world’s top players on clay.
Raducanu, 22, fell 6-1, 6-2 to Swiatek, the four-time Roland Garros champion, on Wednesday. Raducanu was one of six Brits to make it through to the second round of this year’s French Open, but she was handed the toughest possible ask with a match against Swiatek.
Swiatek, who has five Grand Slams to her name overall having also taken the 2022 US Open, came into the tournament in mixed form by her incredibly high standards, but as always, she has found a way to raise her game once at Roland Garros having won the last three tournaments here. It is a place where she has suffered zero defeats since 2021 and now has 23 victories in a row to her name in this tournament.
For Raducanu, this was her first match on the showpiece court at Roland Garros — Court Philippe-Chatrier — and it was an intimidating experience.
“It was a really difficult match,” Raducanu said. “Iga played really well. Yeah, it was tough. I think in the beginning of the match it was pretty tight. As it went on I think she grew in confidence. I just felt a bit exposed. So yeah, it was a difficult one.
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“It was the first time playing a match on that court. You do feel like it is a big court. And it’s different and it’s new for me. It’s a surrounding that she’s obviously very comfortable with and she’s played in it a lot of times. I think that did emphasise me feeling a bit of uncomfortable. But it’s a good experience for if I ever play on that court again.”
For Raducanu, this was always going to be a tough match. She came through her first-round match against Wang Xinyu 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 but all the while she was battling pain and illness. She suffered a back spasm at the Strasburg Open last week, and woke on the morning of her opening match with sickness. Though she journeyed to Roland Garros in decent form on clay, she was outclassed by Swiatek.
Looking back at her clay court season, Raducanu said: “I think there were positives in the sense that I won a few matches on the surface. It’s probably my first proper clay court season I’ve had and played through. My last one was really in 2022, so it’s been a long time since.
“I guess I’m pretty happy with … Considering at the beginning I felt really uncomfortable moving. I felt better. I think there are certain elements of my game I really feel like I need to improve, but I don’t necessarily want to go into detail here [in front of the media] and broadcast it to everyone.
“But I guess, against the top in the world, I still have a long way to go, and [today] just highlights that.”
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, had never beaten Swiatek, 23, before today’s clash, having lost all four of their previous meetings. The last time the two met it was a dominant win for Swiatek, as she eased through their Australian Open third round meeting earlier this year 6-1, 6-0.
Swiatek replicated that first set score this time around as she saved a first game break point and then took control of the match. She broke Raducanu twice en route to taking the first set 6-1 in just 35 minutes with Raducanu finding it hard to get her forehand on point.
Swiatek’s dominance showed no signs of abating in the early throes of the second set, as she broke Raducanu’s serve to love in the third game. Raducanu forced three break points in the fourth game but failed to capitalise on any of them as Swiatek went 3-1 up. Raducanu then saved a break point in fifth but failed to get a hold of Swiatek’s serve as the reigning champion held to love to go 4-2 up. Swiatek then broke Raducanu’s serve again in the seventh game, and served out to go through in 1 hour 19 minutes.
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“I knew what I wanted to do, so I just did it,” Swiatek said. “I had a good time on the court, and I felt the game pretty well, so I just went for it.”
Swiatek will now face the winner of Sara Bejlek-Jaqueline Cristian in the third round on Friday. Raducanu now switches attention to her grass court season, where she’ll look to carry promising form into Wimbledon.
“I don’t feel demotivated,” Raducanu said. “I feel like since Miami I have really started building some momentum compared to where I came from at the start of the year and it makes me just want to keep going after a couple days off and then get on the grass.
“I do feel comfortable obviously being at home and having that environment around me. Last year I had a great season, and I’m looking forward to kind of being in the same environment, being at home, having the home support. I think all of us really thrive in that environment, and yeah, it’s just a really healthy and a happy time.”
