EMMA RADUCANU grimaced out of Eastbourne to leave a huge cloud hanging over her Wimbledon hopes.
The British No1 and former US Open champion was smoked 4-6 6-1 7-6 by Aussie Maya Joint in their second round clash.
Emma Raducanu crashed out of the Eastbourne Open following a defeat to Maya Joint[/caption]
The 22-year-old’s latest loss comes just a week before Wimbledon[/caption]
Joint progressed to the quarter-finals[/caption]
But the bigger concern just days before the start of her All England Club campaign was seeing Raducanu struggling once again with her fitness.
Raducanu, 22, has been hampered by a succession of back twinges in recent weeks.
And the issue seemed to be gripping her once again as she made a series of unforced errors, especially on her weaker forehand.
Mid-way through the final set, Raducanu slumped forward as she sat on her chair during the change of ends, a towel across her waist.
Raducanu had cut a tearful image in her first round win over Ann Li, although she explained that was due to a “private” matter.
But as the error count soared under a blazing south coast sun, this appeared to be a significant physical issue.
Raducanu stopped running on a number of points as world No53 Joint saw the chance of a major scalp.
She looked across to coach Mark Petchey with a mixture of pleading and unhappiness.
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It was clear something was awry, with Raducanu holding her back behind the baseline after finding the net once again.
She showed real character to break the increasingly nervy Joint in THREE successive games as she served for the match from 5-2 to take it to a tie-break.
But Joint, 19, found her composure in the breaker after Raducanu misjudged a drop shot, serving it out with an ace to take it 7-4 and win in two hours and 33 minutes.
The question now is over what condition Raducanu will be in when she turns up at SW19 next week.
