Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon campaign ended in early disappointment after she was knocked out in round two following a 6-3 6-3 loss to Caroline Garcia. On a breezy centre court, the teen fought hard but ultimately came up short as she struggled to find a solution to the brute force coming from the 28-year-old’s racket.
The Frenchwoman did an impeccable job of taking time away from the youngster with her impressive and aggressive hitting. Raducanu seemed very shaky on the backhand side and was unable to make inroads with her serve which Garcia attacked more often than not.
The teen didn’t have the greatest start as she was broken in her opening service game, but hit straight back and consolidated serve to make it 2-2. After the hard-hitting Frenchwoman edged ahead 3-2, she broke Raducanu’s serve for the second time and in just 28 minutes, the world number 11 was 5-2 down.
Raducanu faced set point as she tried to force Garcia to serve it out, which she bravely saved with a big first serve and ultimately hung on to to stay in touch at 5-3. Garcia remained solid and clinched the first set 6-3 in just under 40 minutes, as the centre crowd groaned and a disappointed Raducanu, who made just three unforced errors in the opening salvo compared with nine from her opponent, went off the court for a breather.
She returned to cheers from the crowd as she looked to turn the match in her favour. After securing a vital hold at the start of the second set, the young star was keen to forge ahead but some clutch shots by Garcia enabled her to hold serve and level the set at 1-1.
But Raducanu was in trouble again as Garcia continued her solid baseline groundstrokes and began to attack the net also. Facing two break points, to the dismay of those in attendance, a forehand error from Raducanu saw her drop serve.
Not to be denied, Raducanu was gifted a break point courtesy of a Garcia double fault, before getting back on level terms after her opponent sent a forehand long. As the second set continued to ebb and flow, Raducanu saved two break points before throwing in a double fault of her own and shanked a backhand wide, and Garcia regained the break.
Gracia’s big first serve bailed her out of the next service game to lead 5-3. As Raducanu served to stay alive, spectators did their best to will her back into the game and ultimately the match. But Garica overpowered Raducanu yet again and defeated her in an hour and 25 minutes.
This marks yet another tournament in which Raducanu has failed to progress past the second round. In fact, since her US Open triumph last September, the teen has reached the quarter-final stage of a tournament just twice, the last coming back in April on the clay in Stuttgart.
