Emma Raducanu is relishing having another crack at Iga Swiatek after making “good strides” with mental and physical aspects of her game in 2025.
After reaching round four at the Italian Open, Raducanu continued her encouraging form on clay as she battled through illness to kick off her French Open campaign with victory over China’s Wang Xinyu after a three-set marathon.
A blockbuster match against four-time champion Swiatek awaits Raducanu after the Polish world No 5 stretched her winning streak at Roland-Garros to 22 matches with a 6-3 6-3 win over Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova on Monday.
Raducanu will certainly need to be in top condition when she faces Swiatek, who routed Raducanu 6-0 6-1 in just an hour and 10 minutes at the Australian Open.
“I feel like Iga’s always played really well when we have played,” added the 2021 US Open champion.
“I’m looking forward to going out and playing her again. In the last month I have made good strides with my game, and my mentality as well, big time.
“This time, yeah, it’s great. I get another crack at the best in the world and I’m looking forward to playing on a big court probably as well.”
Swiatek not the force she once was?
Swiatek has won the French Open title for the last three years while Raducanu has only played the tournament once before.
That was back in 2022, when she reached the second round, with the former US Open champion missing 2023 following operations on both wrists and one ankle and then opting not to compete in qualifying last year.
While Swiatek, who defeated Raducanu for the loss of just one game at the Australian Open in January, would represent a formidable challenge, it has been a difficult season for the Pole.
She has not won a title since last year’s French Open and has slipped to fifth in the rankings after uncharacteristic performances on her favourite surface.
‘Raducanu can play Swiatek with freedom’
Speaking after Raducanu’s first-round victory, former British No 1 Tim Henman outlined the strategy she needs to adopt to overcome her illness and Swiatek in the next round.
“She obviously isn’t feeling her best,” Henman said. “She felt low on energy and when you do find a way to get those solutions, you give yourself an opportunity in the next round against Swiatek. There’s less pressure on her so hopefully she can play with that freedom.
“These events are 15 days now so to come through a match like that, recovery and rest is going to be important. On Tuesday she can make sure she does all the recovery work and perhaps just a light practice because as she said, she’s played a lot of tennis and her game is in good shape. It’s important she goes in with a full tank of energy if she’s going to cause the upset.
“She’s got to be very aggressive and that’s not easy to do on a clay court when it’s slow and heavy and a bit cold but I think she’s just building confidence on the best event on clay, which is not her natural surface but she’s got the win and now she gets an opportunity to see where her game is at against one of the best clay court players in the world.”
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