Australian Open 2025: Emma Raducanu 'taking the positives' from ...

Raducanu fought her way past two strong opponents in the opening two rounds, but Swiatek’s quality proved too much on the Rod Laver Arena as she defeated the British No.2 6-1, 6-0.

It brings an end to Raducanu’s career-best run in Melbourne in what was only her first tournament of the season having nursed a back injury since December.

While the result was disappointing for the young Briton, Raducanu is taking away the positives from a promising week at Melbourne Park.

“To be on a tennis court, playing matches and competing is something I have to be grateful for,” Raducanu said in her post-match press conference.

“I started hitting when I got here 18 days ago so I have to take a positive that I was able to beat two top opponents in the opening rounds.

“Today, no excuses of the back or physically, I just didn’t play well and she played very well. Given the preparation we had I have to be grateful to be in this position but I have a lot of things to take as feedback and work on.

“The biggest positive has been how I’ve approached every single day. I have to be proud of myself and give myself a pat on the back. One of my goal this year is to just be consistent, ride with it and today is going to be a good test and I think I’ll look back and learn a lot from it on what I need to do better.”

Raducanu showed her fighting spirit in her victories against Ekatrina Alexandrova and former Roland Garros semi-finalist Amanda Anisimova in the first two rounds, overcoming poor showings on serve to grind out victories.

However, against the second seed and a multiple time major champion, she wasn’t able to impose herself as much on the return and the struggles on serve continued.

Swiatek broke five times in the match and didn’t face a break point during a performance that she described as ‘perfect’.

Raducanu admitted that while she wasn’t up to her best on the night, there is plenty to take away and learn for her next upcoming events.

“It was a match I knew going into it that I had to play really well,” she said. “Credit to Iga she played good tennis, but I think it was a bit of a case of her playing well and me not so well. That combination is probably not good and resulted in today.

“She’s a great player – moves really well, defends good but I just felt like certain aspects of my game weren’t necessarily firing.

“If a top player is playing perfect, it’s going to be a difficult match but I just want to work on certain things and make them more consistent.

“The scoreline today was quite harsh, but I look back and I know exactly what I need to do and I take it as feedback. I’m very clear on what happened out there.

“It’s the first tournament of the year for me – I’d say it’s a pretty solid start. I played two really good opponents in the first rounds and came through them. It’s a long season ahead and a busy schedule. It depends a lot on ranking for me whether I get into certain tournaments, but I’m looking to play in the Middle East and then America.”

Jack Draper is now the last Brit in singles action and he’ll face third seed Carlos Alcaraz in a blockbuster fourth round clash in the third match on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday 19 January.