Emma Raducanu said she felt “exposed” by Iga Swiatek as the four-time French Open champion improved her winning record against the Briton to 5-0 with a one-sided 6-1, 6-2 victory at Roland Garros.
Raducanu said the nature of her latest defeat to Swiatek highlighted the “holes” in her game on clay and felt the difference in experience played a part during the second-round match. While Swiatek has won the last three titles in Paris, winning 23 matches in a row, Raducanu was playing on Court Philippe-Chatrier for the first time and struggled to assert herself.
“It was tough. I think in the beginning of the match it was pretty tight. As it went on, I think she grew in confidence. I just felt a bit exposed. It was a difficult one,” Raducanu said.
“It was the first time playing a match on that court. It’s also different when it’s filled and it’s got everything around. You do feel like it is a big court. And it’s different and it’s new for me.
“It’s a surrounding that she’s obviously very comfortable with and she’s played in it a lot of times. I think that did emphasise me feeling a bit uncomfortable. But it’s a good experience for if I ever play on that court again.”
Raducanu has now lost all five of her matches against Swiatek without winning a set. This was their first meeting since the Australian Open in January, where Swiatek dropped just one game in the 6-1, 6-0 win.
The 22-year-old Briton looked to take an aggressive approach from the opening stages, but Swiatek was able to dominate the baseline exchanges after first breaking her opponent in the fourth game and finished with 32 winners to Raducanu’s eight.
Swiatek had struggled for form coming into the French Open after not reaching a final since last year’s title-winning run at Roland Garros, but the 23-year-old’s heavy top-spin forehand remains a huge weapon.
“You just don’t really feel like there is that much space on the court, and certain moments you overhit, because you just feel constant pressure,” Raducanu explained.
“I definitely think I can improve certain areas of my game to maybe make me feel like I have less holes. I’m just going to try my best to work on that.”
Raducanu won just 35 per cent of points on her second serve, and had three break points when Swiatek’s level briefly dipped while leading 2-1 in the second set, but she could not take them.
Despite building a solid foundation on clay this season, Raducanu has now suffered heavy defeats to Swiatek and world No 2 Coco Gauff, who also won 6-1, 6-2 against the former US Open winner when they met in the Italian Open last 16.
“I think there were positives in the sense that I won a few matches on the surface,” Raducanu said. “It’s probably my first proper clay court season I’ve had and played through, and my last one was in 2022, so it’s been a long time since.
“I guess I’m pretty happy, considering at the beginning I felt really uncomfortable moving. I felt better. But I guess against the top in the world, I still have a long way to go, and it just highlights that.”
Raducanu said she did not want to hide away from the areas she needed to improve on as she turns her attention to the grass-court season and building up to Wimbledon, where she reached the last 16 in 2024.
“I don’t feel demotivated,” she added. “I feel like since Miami [where she reached the quarter-finals] I have really started building some momentum compared to where I came from at the start of the year, and it makes me just want to keep going after a couple days off and then get on the grass.”
Swiatek revealed that she had “lacked energy” in some of her matches recently, but said she had a “good time” against Raducanu and clearly enjoys playing her.
“Well, from the beginning, I knew what I wanted to do, so I just did it,” Swiatek said. “I had a good time on the court, and I felt the game pretty well, so I just went for it.
“There are players that just have the ball that it’s for some of us it’s a little bit easier, others don’t like it. You know, there are some players that you just kind of know what you’re going to do.”
