EMMA RADUCANU crashed out of the Australian Open in a straight sets defeat to Anastasia Potapova.
The Brit, 23, suffered a heartbreaking loss Down Under as she was trounced by her Austrian opponent in their second round tie.
Raducanu, the 28th seed, lost 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 to 55th-ranked Potapova in Melbourne.
And defeat meant she missed out on a dream tie against world No1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Raducanu struggled to impose herself against Russian-born Potapova, having been seeded for her first Grand Slam in over three years.
The former US Open winner only recovered from a foot injury before Christmas.
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And before the tournament started, she blasted Aussie organisers for scheduling her opener following a men’s best-of-five-sets at night.
But after looking sharp in her first-round win against 197th-ranked Manachaya Sawangkaew, Raducanu’s forehand was found lacking in her latest game.
Speaking after the defeat to Potapova, Raducanu said: “I don’t want to give myself too much of a hard time, because I know my preparation going into this tournament.
“I kind of have to leave with my head held high because of the matches I’ve had here. I didn’t even know at the beginning if I would be coming to Australia, so it’s a positive in that sense.
“I think playing at different times is also another challenge. Playing at night compared to day, the conditions are very different.
“I just hadn’t really played in these kind of conditions in a minute so I didn’t deal with it very well today.
On her hasty preparations following last month’s foot injury, Raducanu added: “When I came out here, I hadn’t moved, I hadn’t even done a two-cross, one-line drill.
“I hadn’t moved from my half of the court. So if you told me I would have played four, five matches here, from a physical perspective it would have been pretty surprising.
“I think with each one I did get better, except today, but having to learn and get the feel through matches is really difficult and not something I want to be doing.
“But because it’s a Grand Slam, you feel like you can’t or you don’t want to miss out. I don’t regret the decision because I got to come and play a slam even If I wasn’t very ready.
“I had a good three weeks on and off the court. I need to go back and keep working. The season is quite long so if I still stay healthy and do the right things, it will start falling into place.”
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