The quality throughout the first two sets was breathtaking. Raducanu was in the zone – finding the lines almost at will – while Svitolina clicked into gear to reel in a 5-1 deficit in the first set. The 29-year-old Svitolina has played almost 700 tour matches but admitted that was one of the best, at least for the opening two chapters, comparable to her win over world No 1 Iga Swiatek last year.
“It was a really high level, a similar match I had with Iga at Wimbledon. We were striking the ball well every point, every play finished with a winner pretty much,” said Svitolina. “It was maybe my second best match I have played level wise, of course my start to the match my level was not there 100 per cent but Emma played really well. She didn’t miss one ball until 5-1.”
It was impressive from Raducanu, even if she tired in the final set, given her lack of match play.
“When you play someone like Elina, it’s very difficult to train at that level. and train like that for three and a half hours,” said Raducanu.
“Even if you practise like that for three hours, it’s not the same as having to make your first serve every time, if not, she’s on the second.”
Raducanu played with her right thigh heavily strapped but didn’t offer any excuses for the third set dip, though agreed it was a harsh lesson.
“My intensity just dropped,” said Raducanu, whose ranking has slipped to 301 since her time out. “I need to learn to maintain that better for longer if I am going to compete with these players for three sets. For two sets it was great but you can’t win all the matches in two sets.”
Raducanu’s potential has been debated endlessly since that New York triumph. That victory came out of nowhere – which would be hard to handle for anyone, as fellow young star Coco Gauff pointed out earlier this week – and not helped by the overbearing spotlight from the British media.
Raducanu has also made mistakes, with her head perhaps turned by the endorsements and sponsorships thrown her way and struggled to deal with the constant focus. But she wants 2024 to be a reset year, to rebuild her game and for the first two hours on Thursday she was spectacular.
Raducanu only has five career wins over top-30 players and this would have been one of the best, given the circumstances. It wasn’t to be, though the template is there.
“In the first match I was pretty shaky, comparing the levels it’s a big difference,” said Raducanu. “I loved the atmosphere, pretty insane, we had some really good points and it was amazing to have the support here in Auckland but also back home in London.”
For her part, world No 25 Svitolina was pleased with the fighting qualities she showed, to get over the loss of the first set tiebreaker and then retrieve an early 3-1 deficit in the second set breaker, when she was four points from defeat.
“I tried to push myself to come back into the match before it is now or never,” said Svitolina. “I tried to bring back my fighting spirit, to bring this Ukrainian blood in me, to come back, to be strong. I’m practising doing all this sacrifice for this moment, to not give up and just play this kind of matches. Sometimes it’s not enough, maybe the opponent plays too well but you have to push and whatever happens, happens.”
While Raducanu departs for Melbourne – where she has been granted an Australian Open wildcard – Svitolina has to prepare for a quarter-final against fifth seed and world No 32 Marie Bouzaka on Friday.
“I’m here for this and I’m practising, living for this kind of moment so I have to recover now,” said Svitolina.
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns.
