Emma Raducanu fell short of a dream title on home soil after she was defeated 6-0, 7-6 (6) by Croatian lucky loser Donna Vekic at the HSBC Championships in London.
The British number one was swiftly beaten in the first set but saved three championship points in the second on the way to a tiebreak, where she saved another and came agonisingly close to taking it to a deciding set.
Rain earlier in the tournament resulted in Raducanu having to power through a two-match day on Saturday, beating Kamilla Rakhimova then American Iva Jovic to reach the first grass-court and third tour-level final of her career.
It meant the Briton had spent two hours and 19 minutes more on court the previous day than her opponent – who played just one match, a swift one-hour, six-minute victory over British number three Katie Boulter.
Raducanu was looking for her first trophy since her stunning win as a qualifier at the 2021 US Open, and brought up two set points in the 10th game.
The 23-year-old finished runner-up to Sorana Cirstea in Cluj-Napoca, her second final, in February, but missed two and a half months of the season with post-viral illness and had just one win under her belt since March.
Raducanu slipped in the first of those matches and danced around just how much she was feeling the effects after booking her place in the final, saying she and her team would do “everything they possibly can” ahead of the final and insisting “adrenaline and support” had spurred her on.
Raducanu emerged on court wearing a patch on her left thigh, the same location where she sported one in her semi-final victory, and the support, at least, was in an abundance of supply from the home crowd from the start.
They upped their ante as Raducanu struggled to do the same, finding herself down two breaks within about a quarter of an hour, and, after making the fifth game more of a battle, took a medical time out, during which the patch on her leg was removed.
Whatever struggles the Briton was having with her leg – and she did appear to move a bit more gingerly – were not helped by the form of her opponent, who was comfortable and clinical.
At the end of the first set, lasting just over half an hour, Vekic had won 92 per cent of her first serve points in contrast to Raducanu’s 50 per cent, and had hit 13 winners compared to the Briton’s four.
Raducanu, who had not dropped a set in this tournament until the final, had been called “ruthless” throughout the week, but on Sunday it was often more a matter of resilience and, often, fine margins.
She twice failed to win set points in the 10th game, when she then lost her serve for the second time in the set.
But Raducanu dug even deeper, capitalising on the support of the crowd to fend off three championship points to force the tiebreak, then another to draw the tiebreak level at 6-6 before Vekic finally denied the Briton a chance at a comeback.
