Emma Raducanu has ‘nothing to lose’ against Iga Swiatek as she reveals her strategy
Emma Raducanu and Iga Swiatek will meet for the fourth time in their careers and the former has given insight into how she plans to play against the world No 2 on the hard courts at the Australian Open.
Both picked up two-set wins in the second round of the season-opening Grand Slam with Swiatek dropping only two games against Rebecca Sramkova while Raducanu secured a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Amanda Anisimova.
It is the first time that Raducanu has made it into the round of 32 at Melbourne Park as she fell in the second round on her first three attempts.
But the road gets tougher from here on in as five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek awaits in what will be the fourth top-level meeting and first since their 2024 meeting on the clay in Stuttgart.
The Pole, who brushed Sramkova aside with a 6-0, 6-2 scoreline, is 19–6 at the Australian Open with her best run coming in 2022 when she reached the semi-final before losing in straight sets against Danielle Collins.
Swiatek also leads her head-to-head against Raducanu 3-0 as she won two meetings on clay and one on the hard courts at Indian Wells in 2023.
Raducanu, though, will take comfort from the fact that Swiatek does have off days as last year she was stunned in the third round at Melbourne by Linda Noskova as the then 19-year-old claimed a three-set win.
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The previous year she lost against the big-hitting Elena Rybakina in the fourth round.
Swiatek generally has problems against the big hitters so Raducanu will try to take a leave out of their book as she admitted she will is “just gonna swing”.
“It’ll be a good match for me. Any match I can play against these top opponents, I’m loving it. It’s an opportunity to test my game and see where I’m at,” the 2021 US Open winner said.
“We played twice before on clay. Let’s see on hard court. She’s achieved so much already. Going into it, I have nothing to lose. I’m just gonna swing. I’m gonna give it my best.”
One area where Raducanu will have to improve is her serve as Anisimova broke twice in the first set and three times in the second set. She was also broken six times by 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round.
Swiatek, meanwhile, didn’t face a single break point against Sramkova while Katerina Siniakova managed to break once in each set in the opening round.
