Australian Open 2025: Emma Raducanu thrashed by Iga Swiatek in Melbourne

While Raducanu and Swiatek both won Grand Slam titles as teenagers, their careers have followed very different paths since.

The Briton, who famously won the 2021 US Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier, initially struggled with the spotlight placed on her afterwards.

The rigours of playing full-time on the WTA Tour also took its toll.

A series of injuries culminated in wrist and ankle surgeries in 2023, with Raducanu dropping out of the world’s top 300 and still finding her way back.

In contrast, Swiatek continued to thrive after winning the 2020 French Open.

Three more victories on the clay courts at Roland Garros have been supplemented by a US Open triumph in 2022.

Swiatek had won all three of their previous professional meetings – and the gulf between the pair remains wide.

Raducanu was unable to cope with Swiatek’s top spin-heavy groundstrokes and athleticism, making a host of errors from the baseline – particularly on the backhand side – as the pressure told.

Losing serve early was a fatal blow against a superb front-runner like Swiatek, who showed her ruthless nature by securing a 78th ‘bagel’ of her tour-level career.

“The scoreline was obviously quite harsh,” said Raducanu.

“I’m very clear on what happened out there. If I’m not necessarily able to hold my service games or dictate, I feel like it seeps into the rest of my game.

“On my second serves, how the point is structured from then on, and also in the return games, you feel a lot more pressure.

“That was probably a big aspect today.”