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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Andy Sims

French Open: Emma Raducanu crashes out after another heavy defeat to Iga Swiatek

French frustration: Emma Raducanu’s Roland Garros campaign was ended in the second round - (Getty Images)

Emma Raducanu suffered more pain at the hands of Iga Swiatek as she was dumped out of the French Open.

The 22-year-old was one of six British players through to the second round at Roland Garros but her stay was ended in brutal fashion, 6-1 6-2, by the four-time champion.

Raducanu, making her debut on Court Philippe-Chatrier, did not appear to be suffering any fitness issues as she had in her first-round win over Wang Xinyu.

But it was a meek display from the former US Open champion, who has now lost all five meetings with Swiatek without winning a set.

The most recent of those was still fresh in the memory, a 6-1 6-0 pasting at the Australian Open earlier this year, and Swiatek threatened a repeat when she raced away with the first set.

Swiatek is nicknamed the 'Queen of Clay' and is unbeaten at the tournament since 2021 but she has not reached a final since Paris last year and has slipped to number five in the world.

So there were at least some small reasons for optimism for Raducanu, who let out a shriek of relief when she held her opening service game.

But her next service game was tame, giving Swiatek - who was hardly playing lights-out tennis herself - an easy break.

Raducanu made a horrible mess of an overhead to gift Swiatek a 5-1 lead and the 23-year-old clinched the set with an ace.

The British number two held at the start of the second - at least getting that Melbourne monkey off her back - but Swiatek had by now found her range and a flurry of winners subsequently secured a break to love.

There were fleeting moments of hope but three break points came and went and Raducanu's error count began to climb steadily.

Swiatek broke again for 5-2 and a flashing winner - her 31st of the contest - wrapped up a comprehensive win in just an hour and 19 minutes.

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