Emma Raducanu suffered the joint-heaviest defeat of her career as second seed Iga Swiatek demonstrated her superiority in a one-sided Australian Open third-round match.
Britain’s Raducanu was thrashed 6-1 6-0 in a chastening afternoon on Rod Laver Arena.
The world number 61 lost serve five times as Swiatek took just 70 minutes to secure victory.
It is the second time Raducanu has won just one game in a match, having lost 6-0 6-1 to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in Sydney three years ago.
“She played very well, but I also think I didn’t play very well. It’s just not a great combination,” Raducanu, 22, said.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek has never gone past the Melbourne semi-finals but her level against Raducanu sent another warning to her title rivals.
The 23-year-old Pole has not dropped a set or even a service game in her first three rounds in Melbourne.
“If a top player is playing perfect, it’s already going to be a difficult match,” Raducanu added.
Raducanu famously won the 2021 US Open title as an 18-year-old qualifier but struggled with the spotlight on her afterwards.
The rigours 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 finding her way back after dropping out of the world’s top 300.
Swiatek, however, 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 claimed the US Open trophy in 2022.
Swiatek has won all four of her meetings with Raducanu – and the gulf between the pair is stark.
Raducanu was unable to cope with Swiatek’s top spin-heavy groundstrokes and athleticism, making a host of errors from the baseline as the pressure told on her backhand in particular.
Losing serve early was a fatal blow against a superb front-runner like Swiatek, who went on to secure the 78th ‘bagel’ of her tour-level career.
