Emma Raducanu should keep her depth ranges for longer if she is to problem prime gamers, says Laura Robson.
Raducanu received solely a single recreation towards second seed Iga Swiatek as she misplaced 11 in a row in a 6-1 6-0 hammering within the third spherical of the Australian Open on Rod Laver Enviornment.
The 22-year-old had come into the event with no warm-up matches following a again spasm and although she mentioned there have been “no excuses” when it got here to her bodily preparation, Robson discovered positives within the heavy defeat.
“The positives were that Raducanu was moving well and when she was able to stay in the rally, she was able to put together some good points, but the difference for me was in the intensity of the two of them,” mentioned Sky Sports activities’ tennis pundit Robson on Eurosport.
“In a approach, will probably be a studying curve for Raducanu.
“If she desires to problem these prime gamers then she must play with depth for longer and that is what she is aware of already.
“Raducanu would be the first one to say it’s about getting matches and tournaments beneath her belt as a result of if you step as much as this degree, Swiatek has performed so many third rounds of Grand Slams that she was snug, and it was so evident from the primary level within the match.
“The footwork and sharpness were there every time she stepped up to the line, and if you’re not used to that rhythm, pace, or power then it’s very hard.”
The defeat to Swiatek equalled Raducanu’s heaviest profession loss – suffered to Elena Rybakina at a WTA Tour occasion in Sydney three years in the past.
Swiatek performed 69 WTA main-draw matches in 2024 whereas Raducanu received 20 of the 33 matches she featured in and this distinction was evident on courtroom.
“Swiatek just knows what to do on the more important points,” Robson added.
“She was able to step it up another gear, whereas Raducanu, who hadn’t played in a tournament coming into this match and played two very different opponents in the first two rounds, gave her a lot of unforced errors to work with.
“Swiatek gave her completely nothing to work with and such a very good front-runner.”
Following her defeat, Raducanu was happy with how she dealt with the event regardless of the scoreline and is raring to get straight again to work, along with her subsequent event scheduled to be in Singapore in simply over per week – dwell on Sky Sports activities Tennis.
She additionally highlighted her function the important thing space she must work on if she is to get nearer to the highest gamers after being damaged 16 occasions in six units and hitting 24 double faults.
“All through the match, we noticed Raducanu sit again behind the baseline and he or she was making an attempt to do one thing totally different however it’s robust to proceed to show the purpose round,” Robson added.
“She would have pushed her preparations getting ready for this but Swaitek did well because for me she played a near-perfect match.
“She was serving virtually solely to Radcanu’s backhand and it was simply the identical level time and again.”
Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina will join Swiatek in the last 16.
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