“I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something I want to work on,” Raducanu said.
“There are definitely pockets of me playing how I want to play and it comes out in flashes, which is a positive. But it’s not how I want to be consistently every day.
“It’s not going to fall into place straight away, but the more I work on how I want to be playing, it will be more of my identity every time I step onto the court.
“I need to work at that, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”
The defeat means Cameron Norrie is the only British player to reach the third round of the singles in Melbourne, the 30-year-old beating American Emilio Nava 6-1 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 7-6 (7-5) after a rain delay during the fourth-set tie-break.
While Raducanu improved to beat 197th-ranked Mananchaya Sawangkaew in the first round, she looked undercooked against Potapova.
Russian-born Potapova also made a huge amount of errors in a poor-quality first set which started with five breaks of serve before Raducanu pulled away.
Raducanu served for the first set at 5-4 but her forehand disintegrated and was broken back by Potapova, who ran away with the tie-break.
After Potapova took a lengthy break at the end of the set, she made a fast start to the second and broke twice for a 3-0 lead.
The pair exchanged breaks before Potapova asserted her authority and cruised to victory, with a subdued Raducanu making a hasty exit.
Eyes had inevitably drawn towards the potential meeting with Sabalenka – but this loss was a sharp reminder of where Raducanu’s level remains.
