Australian Open 2025: How Emma Raducanu could attempt to shock Iga Swiatek

Over the past year, there have been instances of Swiatek struggling against aggressive baseliners like Raducanu – most notably his exit at the Australian Open 12 months ago.

At that time, 19-year-old Czech Linda Noskova increased her strength and got the benefit of this in a three-set comeback.

Afterwards, Swiatek said she felt “stressed” and “uncomfortable” due to her inability to adapt.

However, she has appeared to learn from that experience.

Overcoming difficulties against four-time major winner Naomi Osaka of Japan at the French Open and Britain’s Katie Boulter in a recent United Cup match indicate her progress in problem-solving against this type of player.

On both occasions, Swiatek initially tried to match her opponent in terms of speed and the increased speed of her groundstrokes led to a series of unforced errors.

Once he stopped trying to outwit them, hitting loopier returns instead of flatter returns, every competition came his way.

Still, you would imagine that Raducanu would need to be aggressive from the baseline rather than simply counter-attacking to give himself a chance.