When is the Emma Raducanu-Iga Swiatek match? Will Raducanu play? What did Tim Henman say?
Emma Raducanu has been handed a difficult second-round assignment at the 2025 French Open as she will face defending champion Iga Swiatek in what will be their fifth career meeting and second this year.
The pair had contrasting wins in the opening round as Raducanu required two hours and 44 minutes to defeat Wang Xinyu in three sets.
Swiatek’s two-set win over Rebecca Sramkova took one hour and 24 minutes to complete.
The two Grand Slam champions will now face each other for a place in the third round and the winner will take on either qualifier Sara Bejlek or Jacqueline Cristian.
Their form and question marks?
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek is 28-9 so far in 2025 after her win over Sramkova, but she will be the first to admit that she is not in the best of form.
The four-time French Open winner is yet to reach a final this year and she has slipped to No 5 in the WTA Rankings following her failure to defend her titles in Madrid and Rome.
2021 US Open winner Raducanu, meanwhile, has enjoyed an upswing in form as she reached the quarter-final of the Miami Open and the fourth round of the Italian Open to return to the top 50 of the rankings with a 13-10 win-loss record this campaign.
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The British No 2 has also struggled with illness and injury in the lead-up to the second-round match against Swiatek as she was troubled by a back problem during her recent loss in Strasbourg and then “woke up and I felt really sick” before her match against Wang.
It remains to be seen if she will be healthy and fit for her next assignment, but her camp has not indicated that she could withdraw.
When is the match?
The second-round encounter has been scheduled for day four – Wednesday, May 27 – at Roland Garros and it will take place during the day session on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The clash is the third match of the day on the main court as it will follow the Jasmine Paolini v Ajla Tomljanovic, and Carlos Alcaraz v Fabian Marozsan encounters.
The Paolini-Tomljanovic match will start at 12:00 local time (11:00 BST), Alcaraz-Marozsan clash is likely to get underway just after 13:30, so it is unlikely that the Raducanu v Swiatek match will start before 16:00 (15:00 BST).
Raducanu v Swiatek H2H
World No 5 Swiatek has an unblemished record against Raducanu as she currently leads the head-to-head rivalry 4-0 without dropping a set.
The Pole defeated Raducanu 6-4, 6-4 in Stuttgart in 2022, 6-3, 6-1 in Indian Wells in 2023, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in Stuttgart in 2024 and 6-1, 6-0 at the 2025 Australian Open.
What Swiatek had to say…
“Everyone has a different path and different challenges. But for sure she’s a great player. She has a great forehand. She can use her topspin pretty well. So we played already a couple of times. We know each other’s game.
“For sure I’ll need to be intense and focus on myself. For sure, she won the US Open. She can play great tennis. I’ll be ready.”
What Raducanu had to say…
“I think it’s a match for me where I can really test and challenge myself. I think exposure to the top players is great for where I’m at for my development.
“It’s a match where I can… go for my shots, because I know if I just push the ball, I’m probably going to get eaten.”
Advice for Raducanu from Tim Henman via TNT Sport…
“She’s got to be very aggressive and, you know, that’s not easy to do on a clay court when it’s slow and heavy and a little bit cold
“But, I think, again, she’s just building confidence because she’s coming into the biggest and best events on clay, which is not her natural surface, but, she’s got the win, and now, again, she gets the opportunity to see where a game’s at against one of the best clay court players in the world.”
He added: “She’s played a lot of tennis, game’s in good shape, and then important that she goes in with a full tank of energy, um, if she’s gonna cause the upset against Swiatek.”
