Australian Open 2025 results: Emma Raducanu beaten by Iga Swiatek in Melbourne

While Raducanu and Swiatek both won Grand Slam titles as teenagers, their careers have followed very different paths since.

Raducanu famously won the 2021 US Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier, but struggled with the spotlight on her afterwards.

The difficulties of playing full-time on the WTA tour also took its toll.

A series of injuries culminated in wrist and ankle surgeries in 2023, with Raducanu still recovering from falling out of the world’s top 300.

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

She has become dominant at Roland Garros, having won the title there for the past three years, and also won the US Open trophy in 2022.

Swiatek has won all four of his meetings with Raducanu – and the gap between the pair is sharp.

Raducanu was unable to cope with Swiatek’s topspin-heavy groundstrokes and athleticism, making a host of errors from the baseline as the pressure especially told on her backhand.

Losing serve early on was a fatal blow to an outstanding forerunner like Swiatek, who went on to secure the 78th ‘bagel’ of his tour-level career.

“Obviously the score line was pretty tough,” Raducanu said.

“I’m very aware of what happened out there. If I’m not necessarily able to hold my service games or dictate, I feel like that seeps into the rest of my game.

“On my second serves, how the point is structured from then on, and in the return games you feel a lot more pressure.

“That was probably a big aspect today.”