Emma Raducanu suffers another early exit as Petra Martic fights back to progress at Indian Wells

Emma Raducanu faltered when serving for the match as Petra Martic fought back to win a topsy-turvy encounter at Indian Wells and reach the last 16. The 19-year-old produced an erratic display – particularly on serve where she was broken eight times – as she slipped to a 6-7(3) 6-4 7-5 defeat in two hours and 49 minutes.

Ad/> Raducanu was bidding to win consecutive matches at a tournament for only the second time since her fairytale run to the US Open title in September but cracked at the crucial moment. WTA Indian Wells'Murray inspired me' — Raducanu hits form with stylish win over GarciaYESTERDAY AT 23:15 The Brit, as she often did during that run to the trophy in New York, started slowly and quickly fell 3-1 behind as Martic secured an early break.

However a see-saw set eventually went her way – Raducanu recovering to lead 5-3, failing to serve it out, then taking it belatedly via a tiebreak. 'He's an idiot' — Will Ruud v Kyrgios rivalry re-ignite at Indian Wells? 'Amanda please wait' — Anisimova abruptly retires minutes after failing to convert match points /> But the errors on serve refused to vanish.

Back-to-back double faults on break point saw her slip 2-4 behind in the second set and although she staged a mini-recovery, another limp service game saw Martic force a decider. A tired backhand into the net from Raducanu saw Martic break at the start of the third.

But instead of prompting a swift exit, it fired Raducanu up and she began to showcase the aggression that carried her to the US Open title, capturing a break-back point with a bruising cross-court forehand. Now it was Martic struggling and when she crumbled on serve at 4-4, Raducanu suddenly had the chance to serve out the match – only for her own serve to