4 hours ago
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Over the past few years of professional tennis, the sight of Iga Swiatek annihilating another poor, defenceless opponent has become as sure as the sun will rise. When Swiatek’s game is flowing and her mind is clear, the combined quality of her violent ball-striking, athleticism and unrelenting focus is so great that, at some point or another, she has rendered nearly all of the best players in the world spectators in their own match.
On Saturday afternoon at Melbourne Park, it was Emma Raducanu’s turn to endure such an unpleasant experience. Raducanu cut a lonely, solemn figure on one of the biggest tennis stadiums in the world as she was completely helpless in the face of a supreme Swiatek, who ruthlessly opened up her bakery to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win.
In her first tournament of the season, after back spasms significantly affected her pre-season preparation, Raducanu had arrived in the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career with two solid straight-sets wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 26th seed, and Amanda Anisimova. Both times, the 22-year-old demonstrated her fighting spirit and court sense against an ultra-aggressive but inconsistent opponent, outmanoeuvring them to advance.
But there comes a time when no amount of fight can substitute for pure quality ball-striking and the ability to sustain a consistently high level of play. Since she first reached No 1 nearly three years ago, Swiatek has been the standard bearer for women’s tennis and the 23-year-old has put herself on the path towards all-time greatness. There was never any doubt that Swiatek, a five-time grand slam champion, was going to show up and produce a high level on Rod Laver Arena. The question was what exactly Raducanu could do to make her life difficult.
During the early exchanges, as both players settled down, Raducanu had some reasons to be positive. Despite facing two break points in her opening service game, Raducanu showed her athletic strengths and ability to flip points from defence to attack, absorbing Swiatek’s significant pace and then punching back as she held serve for 1-1.
That hope would prove fleeting. As Swiatek quickly found her range, she completely suffocated Raducanu from the baseline. Raducanu’s serve was soon completely under attack, the Pole decimating Raducanu’s meek second serve and lasering almost every first serve return back with outstanding depth and pace, allowing her to immediately take the initiative in every point. Swiatek also served extremely well – she did not face a single break point – and completely dominated the baseline with her far superior pace and weight of shot.
With the match entirely on Swiatek’s racket until the end, Raducanu looked extremely underpowered and completely out of ideas. When Raducanu tried to snatch the initiative back from Swiatek, swing with freedom and aim for the lines, her error count continued to rise. Whenever she tried to patiently build the point, as is her usual approach, it would not take long until a heavy topspin forehand was flying past her as a clean winner.
As Swiatek rolled through 11 games in a row towards victory, a loud, encouraging call came out from a spectator: “No mercy!” It was not really necessary. Swiatek has long established herself as a peerless frontrunner, always ruthless until the end. As she always does, Swiatek left nothing to chance by sprinting all the way through the finish line, leaving her completely outmatched opponent in the dust.
