Raducanu crushed by Swiatek in Melbourne

As second seed Iga Swiatek demonstrated her superiority in a one-sided Australian Open third-round match, Britain’s Emma Raducanu suffered the collective heaviest defeat of her career.

Raducanu, 22, was thrashed 6-1 6-0 in a chastening afternoon on Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

In a match that lasted only one hour and ten minutes, the world number 61 lost serve five times.

After being defeated by Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 6-0 6-1 in Sydney three years ago, she lost only one game in her career.

Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion and winner of the tournament, excelled in a performance that sent a new warning to her title rivals.

The Polish-born 23-year-old has won her first three matches without dropping a service game.

“I just enjoyed playing”, said Swiatek, who converted five of 12 break points.

“I made a few shots when I realized this is what I practice for.”

I finally had some confidence, and I had the ability to push on even further.

Although both Swiatek and Raducanu won Grand Slams as teenagers, their careers have evolved significantly since.

The Briton, who famously won the 2021 US Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier, initially struggled with the spotlight placed on her afterwards.

The demands of full-time WTA Tour playing also weighed on.

In 2023, a string of injuries led to the removal of Raducanu from the top 300 and her ability to recover from her injuries.

In contrast, Swiatek continued to thrive after winning the 2020 French Open.

A US Open victory in 2022 will add three more victories on Roland Garros’ clay courts.

The gap between Swiatek and Swiatek is still significant despite the fact that they have already won all three of their previous professional encounters.

As the pressure demanded, Raducanu was unable to deal with Swiatek’s top spin-heavy groundstrokes and athleticism, making numerous errors from the baseline, particularly on the backhand side.

Raducanu will try to take the advantages of his career-best run at Melbourne Park, despite the nature of this defeat.

Due to a back injury, the English player had to pull out of an Auckland warm-up event and hadn’t played since mid-November, which had hindered her preparations for the season’s opening Grand Slam.

In the opening round, Raducanu showed heart despite having a “mind of her own” and hitting 15 double faults in her match with Russian 26th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Even more disappointing was her second-round versus American Amanda Anisimova.

As she “past pain” was used to push “past pain” to earn yet another straight-set win, Raducanu fought back after breaking down in each set and twice needed medical attention.

Whether or not she had a physical impact on Swiatek was unknown.