World No 1 Iga Swiatek backed Emma Raducanu to return to tennis’s elite after having to fight for a hard-earned victory over the Brit in the Stuttgart Open quarter-finals.
The 21-year-old went toe-to-toe with Swiatek for large parts of a two-hour game, before falling to a straight-sets defeat. With the Pole often so dominant on clay, it was a performance that offered Raducanu promising signs ahead of next month’s French Open.
Swiatek said afterwards: ‘It was a pretty intense match. I’m happy I kept the intensity even though we played tough games for two hours.’
Asked if Raducanu could challenge for titles again, Swiatek added: ‘I hope she’ll be able to do it because, for sure, she has a game for that.’
Raducanu broke the four-time Grand Slam winner in the first game and went on to force a first-set tiebreak before slipping to a 7-6, 6-3 defeat. It followed a run of four wins in seven days that will see Raducanu work her way back up the rankings from No 303.
Emma Raducanu lost in the quarter-finals of the Stuttgart Open against Iga Swiatek
Swiatek has won the last two Stuttgart Opens and will meet Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals
The 21-year-old star performed well and the signs are promising that she’s returning to form
The former US Open champion has been plagued by injury but is finding momentum again
Considering that she is still finding her feet after an injury-plagued 2023, reaching the quarter-finals here represents good progress from Raducanu.
She dropped as low as 303rd in the world rankings on the back of wrist and ankle operations and has often struggled to string more than a couple of wins together.
However, she has been in strong form recently, helping Britain beat France in the Billie Jean King Cup last week.
Swiatek will meet fourth seed Elena Rybakina in the semi-finals in Stuttgart.
On a tough day for the Brits, Cameron Norrie was beaten by Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open, while Jack Draper lost a final-set tiebreak to world No 15 Taylor Fritz in Munich.
