Emma Raducanu crashes out of Wimbledon in second round after straight sets defeat to Caroline Garcia

Emma Raducanu’s Wimbledon run came to an end on Wednesday as the Great Britain star lost in the second round to Caroline Garcia.

Garcia, 28, nine years older than Raducanu, 19, deployed an aggressive style from the start and her experience shone through as the Frenchwoman eased to a 6-3 6-3 victory on Centre Court.

Raducanu, seeded 10th, was perhaps Britain’s best chance of winning a Wimbledon singles title this year but entered the tournament lacking in fitness – with just seven matches on grass under her belt due to a side strain.

That side strain saw her pull out of Nottingham and left her unfit for Eastbourne, two of the traditional warm-up events.

Hopes were high for Raducanu after she burst on the tennis scene at last year’s Championships with an unexpected fourth-round run before she topped it with a fairytale triumph at the US Open – winning Flushing Meadows as a qualifier.

However, she has struggled with both form and injury ever since, and has chopped and changed her coaches as she looks to build on her maiden Grand Slam trophy and get back to playing her best tennis more consistently.

Some had thought Raducanu could go all the way at Wimbledon and hype had built following her opening win over Alison Van Uytvanck, but it was not to be as she crashed out to an experienced Garcia, an eight-time winner on the WTA Tour.

The duo had met once before this match, with the British star coming out on top with a 6-1 3-6 6-1 victory at Indian Wells in March, but it was Garcia who got off to a strong start by breaking Raducanu in her first service game to lead 2-0.

Raducanu roared back with a break of her own and held her serve to level it at 2-2, but it started to fall apart for the Brit as Garcia broke her again, winning three