Emma Raducanu’s attempt at a miraculous recovery against Maya Joint fell just short as she exited the Eastbourne Open.
The British No 1 looked dead and buried in her second-round battle with the Australian, trailing 5-2 in the deciding set.
But she produced an inspired spell, breaking Joint three times when she was serving for the match, to set up a tie break.
Victory was in sight when she got a mini-break to lead 4-3 but Joint reeled off four successive points to claim a 4-6 6-1 7-6 (4) victory and move into the quarter-finals.
Raducanu revealed on Tuesday after her opening-round win that she had received “some pretty bad news” and that perhaps affected her, as she seemed subdued on court and looked increasingly leggy in the deciding set.
The 22-year-old will now head to London, where she will prepare for her SW19 campaign, the scene of her 2021 breakthrough.
She lost the opening two games of the match but battled back to gain control, breaking twice to take the opening set 6-4.
Then things started to go wrong as Joint, ranked 51 in the world, found her groove and won 11 out of the next 14 games to put herself on the brink of victory.
But there is nothing as hard as getting over the finish line and Raducanu sensed nerves.
She broke on Joint’s first attempt to serve it out and then, after holding her own delivery, did it again to level at 5-5.
Get 4 months free with ExpressVPN
Servers in 105 Countries
Superior Speeds
Works on all your devices
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
Get 4 months free with ExpressVPN
Servers in 105 Countries
Superior Speeds
Works on all your devices
Try for free
ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.
A see-saw contest continued to give and Joint recomposed herself to break Raducanu and serve for the match for the third time at 6-5.
But Raducanu sent it into a tiebreak where she took the lead at 4-3 on serve. Joint steeled herself again, winning four consecutive points and sealing it with an ace.
She said: “Today was really tough, there was a lot of ups and downs. I was happy I was able to tough it out at the end.
“I am really glad I was able to win this match.”
Jodie Burrage became the second Briton in two days to miss match points to oust reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Twenty-four hours after Harriet Dart spurned victory over the same opponent, Burrage, the world No 161, was 40-0 up on the Czech’s serve at 6-5 in the deciding set, but she could not get over the line, with Krejcikova winning the tiebreak.
In the men’s draw, lucky loser Billy Harris continued to take advantage of his reprieve, winning 6-3 6-4 against Mattia Bellucci.
