Emma Raducanu out of French Open after falling again to Iga Swiatek

By Andy Sims, PA, Paris

Emma Raducanu suffered more pain at the hands of Iga Swiatek as she was dumped out of the French Open.

The 22-year-old was one of six British players through to the second round at Roland Garros but her stay was ended in brutal fashion, 6-1 6-2, by the four-time champion.

Raducanu, making her debut on Court Philippe-Chatrier, did not appear to be suffering any fitness issues as she had in her first-round win over Wang Xinyu.

But it was a meek display from the former US Open champion, who has now lost all five meetings with Swiatek without winning a set.

The most recent of those was still fresh in the memory, a 6-1 6-0 pasting at the Australian Open earlier this year, and Swiatek threatened a repeat when she raced away with the first set.

Swiatek is nicknamed the ‘Queen of Clay’ and is unbeaten at the tournament since 2021 but she has not reached a final since Paris last year and has slipped to number five in the world.

So there were at least some small reasons for optimism for Raducanu, who let out a shriek of relief when she held her opening service game.

But her next service game was tame, giving Swiatek – who was hardly playing lights-out tennis herself – an easy break.

Raducanu made a horrible mess of an overhead to gift Swiatek a 5-1 lead and the 23-year-old clinched the set with an ace.

The British number two held at the start of the second – at least getting that Melbourne monkey off her back – but Swiatek had by now found her range and a flurry of winners subsequently secured a break to love.

There were fleeting moments of hope but three break points came and went and Raducanu’s error count began to climb steadily.

Swiatek broke again for 5-2 and a flashing winner – her 31st of the contest – wrapped up a comprehensive win in just an hour and 19 minutes.