Harriet Dart dissolved into more mid-match tears and admits she let a ‘heartbreaking’ opportunity slip against Wang Xinyu in the third round at Wimbledon.
The British No.2, who had beaten red-hot rival Katie Boulter just two days earlier, blew her chance of reaching the last 16 for the first time in her career as she suffered a 2-6 7-5 6-3 defeat against her Chinese opponent.
Dart, 27, breezed into a one-set lead and despite having multiple chances to clinch the tense encounter, was unable to scramble over the line and join Emma Raducanu in the next round.
The Hampstead player had broken down when trailing Boulter in a tie-break in the previous round before producing a miraculous comeback to stun her British No.1 nemesis.
And 48 hours later, she once again let her emotions get the better of her as the waterworks opened and Wang capitalised to seize her spot in the fourth round.
After beating Boulter, Dart had admitted she often let her feelings show too much on court and she gets too visibly upset when the going gets tough.
And after blowing her chance against Wang, the world No.33, she said: “It was a huge opportunity today.
“I put myself in some situations where I was up and leading and yes, it was really tough.
“To be up in two sets and come away with a loss is pretty heartbreaking, to be honest.
“Hopefully it doesn’t take me too long [to get over].
“I don’t know – I mean, it’s a really tough one because I’ve been playing some good tennis these few weeks.
“I’ve had some good results and I’ve been playing some good tennis.
“It’s definitely a match I’m going to have to really learn from. I had so many opportunities and I just didn’t take them.”
Dart, the current world No.94, came flying out of the blocks and raced into a one-set lead in front of a partisan Court 2 crowd.
Her and Wang were locked at four games apiece in the second but after a sloppy service game from Dart, things began to unravel.
The Brit became increasingly frustrated, made a string of unforced errors and ultimately let her more mature opponent back into the match.
Dart even went a break up in the deciding set but once again, failed to control her emotions after several lost points and succumbed to a deserved defeat.
She added: “Once this tournament is over for me, I guess I’ll reflect a little bit more.
“Right now it’s a little bit too close to home, just the loss being so raw and stuff.
“Also just having those opportunities, I’m just disappointed in myself.”
Later in the day on Centre Court, world No.1 Iga Swiatek was dumped out by Kazakh star Yulia Putintseva.
The four-time French Open champion had cruised into a one-set lead but just like Dart several hours earlier, blew it to suffer a 3-6 6-1 6-2 defeat.
Swiatek, 23, has a questionable record on grass and the Pole is still yet to go further than the semi-finals at the All England Club.
And after that miserable record continued, she said: “If I would have another Wimbledon in two months, I would be really, really determined.
“For sure I’ll focus really hard right now to work for it. It’s going to be in a year, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen in a year.
“Obviously I am determined, like on every tournament. Actually, this part of the season is not easy because it’s the middle of the season, we’re switching surfaces.
“For me going from this kind of tennis where I felt like I’m playing the best tennis in my life to another surface where I kind of struggle a little bit more, it’s not easy.
“All that stuff really combines to me not really having a good time in Wimbledon.
“Again, I feel like if I’m going to do a better job at recovering and if I will have more energy coming into the tournament, I can work through that and just focus on the right stuff.”
It was an eventful day of women’s action as Ons Jabeur, a two-time Wimbledon finalist, was also knocked out.
The Tunisian suffered a comprehensive 6-1 7-6 (4) defeat against Ukrainian No.21 seed Elina Svitolina on Centre Court.
World No.10 Jabeur, 29, has lost the last two consecutive finals in SW19 and has never hid from the fact those pair of heartbreaks have hurt her.
And after crashing out in just the third round this year, Jabeur – who lost to unseeded Czech Markéta Vondroušová in the final last year – said: “I’m not going to lie, it was a bit of remembering last year.
“Especially not playing so good, not serving the way I wanted in the first set especially did bring a bit of sad memories.
“But yeah, I still love the Centre Court. I will still hope to come back and win on it again.
Over on Court 1, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina blew away former Australian Open champion Carolina Wozniaki with a quickfire 6-0 6-1 triumph.
And elsewhere, No.11 seed Danielle Collins swatted aside Samba star Beatriz Haddad Maia in straight sets.
In one of the few games to be completed on the outside courts, the American triumphed 6-4 6-4 to keep her hopes of emulating her run to the 2022 Australian Open final alive.
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website
