Looking at the bigger picture, Raducanu has made encouraging strides over the past three months.
The 2021 US Open champion has climbed back into the world’s top 50 after an injury-hit couple of years, showing progress by reaching the Miami Open quarter-finals and the Italian Open last 16.
That has been a benefit of playing with more freedom since appointing Mark Petchey as her coach in an “informal” arrangement in March.
Against Swiatek, though, she was unable to do that.
While a more rigid approach was caused partly by Swiatek’s depth of return and ability to change angles, Raducanu’s ball-striking was also well below her best.
Sticking in the rallies with Swiatek was a tough task and demonstrated how difficult Raducanu still finds returning ball after ball against the intensity of the top stars.
It was a similar story against American world number two Coco Gauff on the Rome clay earlier this month.
While Raducanu has undoubtedly made progress with her resilience, the fact she has only won three of her 14 career matches against top-10 players indicates she still has further to go.
Clay is not her natural surface, it must be remembered, and beating Swiatek on the red dirt is one of the most difficult challenges in the game.
Raducanu will now turn her attentions to the grass-court season, starting with a home WTA tournament at Queen’s, which starts in less than a fortnight.
