The Japan Times - Raducanu's Wimbledon build-up hit by Eastbourne exit

After a difficult year marred by poor form and back problems, Raducanu had hoped for a morale-boosting run at Eastbourne before Wimbledon starts on Monday.

But the British star slumped to a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) loss that leaves her short of match practice leading into the grass-court Grand Slam.

Raducanu missed last week's Berlin Open due to the back problem she has been nursing since before the French Open.

On Tuesday, the 22-year-old held back tears after recovering from a set down to defeat American Ann Li in the Eastbourne first round.

"I'd prefer to not go in to it, if that's OK, but I just received some really bad news so I'm trying to overcome that in the background," she said after beating Li.

World number 38 Raducanu is building towards her fourth Wimbledon appearance, where she has twice reached the fourth round since her debut in 2021.

A run to the quarter-finals at Queen's Club two weeks ago was enough to see the 2021 US Open champion regain the British number one position for the first time in two years.

But Joint had knocked out two-time Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur in the first round on Monday and the 19-year-old made Raducanu her second high-profile victim of the week.

"Today was really tough, there were a lot of ups and downs and momentum switches. I was really glad I could tough it out in the end. The atmosphere was amazing," the world number 51 said after the second grass-court win of her career.

"I'm an aggressive player, I like to use my backhand and I'm trying to learn to play on all courts."

Joint, who was ranked 684th at the start of 2024, faces world number 69 Anna Blinkova in the quarter-finals.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova saved three match points to reach the quarter-finals with a gutsy 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3) against Britain's Jodie Burrage.

Twenty four hours after Harriet Dart spurned two match points against Krejcikova, the second seeded Czech had to dig deep again to avoid defeat after falling 0-40 down at 5-6 in the deciding set.

The world number 17's erratic performance suggested she has yet to escape the inconsistency that has plagued her since she beat Jasmine Paolini in last year's Wimbledon final to win her second Grand Slam crown.

Krejcikova made a poor start to this year's grass-court season with a 6-4, 6-3 loss against Slovakia's Rebecca Sramkova in the opening round at Queen's Club.

The 29-year-old also lost in the second round of the recent French Open and missed January's Australian Open with a back injury that kept her sidelined until May.

H.Nakamura--JT