Emma Raducanu faces ‘learning curve’ after Iga Swiatek loss, claims former WTA star

Laura Robson believes Emma Raducanu faces a “learning curve” after winning just one game in a lopsided Australian Open loss to Iga Swiatek.
Raducanu was beaten 6-1, 6-0 by second seed Swiatek on Saturday, losing her serve five times while being unable to generate a break point opportunity on the Pole’s serve.
It was a sobering result for the former US Open champion, who had not dropped a set in her previous two matches in Melbourne against 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova.
Raducanu had lost to Swiatek in their three previous meetings but many thought that faster and warmer conditions in Melbourne could work to her advantage.
However, speaking on Eurosport, former top-30 star Robson credited world No 2 Swiatek for playing a “tactically perfect” match.
She said: “Iga played that kind of match 55 times in the last year and just knows what to do on there on the more important points. She was just able to step it up another game.
“And, whereas Emma, who hasn’t played a tournament coming into this match and played two very different opponents in the first two rounds and two players who gave her a lot of unforced errors to work with, it was the complete opposite today.
“Iga gave her absolutely nothing to work with, and she’s such a good front-runner. Even when she was 6-1 4-0 up it was like she was playing the first point in the match. I can list all the things that Swiatek did well because to me she played a tactically perfect match.
“She was serving almost exclusively to Emma’s backhand because she knows what kind of ball she can get on the plus one shot back – and it was just the same point over and over and over.”
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Raducanu fought well to beat both Alexandrova and Anisimova in Melbourne, reaching the third round of the Australian Open for the first time after losing in round two in her three previous appearances.
However, her struggles against the very top players on the WTA tour continued with her loss to Swiatek.
The Brit is now 4-0 down in her head-to-head versus the Pole – and is 8-0 down in sets – while she has only won two of her eight matches against top-10 opponents.
Robson believes that Raducanu will need to find a new way to try and challenge the tour’s leading stars.
Robson added: “I think in many ways that will be a bit of a learning curve for Emma to get back to the drawing board and think like: ‘Okay, if I want to challenge these top players, I need to train with this intensity, I need to play matches with this intensity’ – and this is what she knows already.
“She would have wished her preparation for this was a little different, but I think it was, yeah, the real standout of what was on show today.”
Raducanu will next be in action at the Singapore Open, which starts on January 27th.
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