The quarterfinal match at the 2022 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart is one of the matches that many wanted to see in the 2022 season as Emma Raducanu will take on Iga Swiatek.
The eight-seeded British player had a great start at the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart and later made it to her first clay-court quarterfinals. She will face the toughest opponent so far in her career, world number one Swiatek.
In her second-round match, Raducanu defeated home player Tamara Korpatsch in three sets and will, therefore, meet women's world number 1. After her second-round match, she said:
"Second set is where I came out swinging, I had the match in control. And then [Korpatsch] started playing some really good tennis, and maybe I dropped my level a little bit, but she capitalized really well. The way I regrouped for the third set, I think, was what I was most pleased about."
"Of course [Swiatek is] in great form, so it's going to take a very high level from me to make it competitive. I'm looking forward to going out there. She's No.1 in the world, she's won all the tournaments recently, so I feel like I've got no pressure."
Talking to the WTA Insider ahead of their match in Stuttgart, Raducanu showed that she's aware of her opponent's qualities, but also explained why the Pole was in a much better position at the moment.
"Iga had been playing tennis full time for years before. She was on the ITF Tour, she was on the WTA Tour. I hadn't played for 18 months, was sitting for my exams, and didn't really play that many tournaments or trained very much. I was training like three times a week for 10 hours a week last year. So right now it's about building robustness for sure, playing matches week in and week out."
Despite winning a major, like her upcoming opponent in the German city, Raducanu recognized that their careers have been much different, given how consistent the Polish player managed to be.
"You can't really compare the journeys because we've had different pathways. Since she won the Slam she's done extremely well and remained consistent. I'm not sure when that will happen for me but I'm sure I'll get there."