Brits buried as all three lose at Eastbourne

A trio of British hopes crashed and burned within hours of each other at Eastbourne on Thursday as the fever dream of home success was ended by three quarter-final defeats.

The 168th-ranked Emma Raducanu, national No. 1 Katie Boulter and outsider Harriet Dart all met their ends on the grass at Devonshire Park without winning a set between them.

Former US Open winner Raducanu’s 6-2, 6-2 thrashing by Daria Kastakina was the most high profile of the trio of losses.

Boulter went down to Roland Garros finalist Jasmine Paolini 6-1, 7-6 (0) while No. 105 Dart was sent packing by former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-1 in 69 minutes to start off the day of defeat.

Raducanu’s loss came a day after her first career defeat of a Top 10 opponent as she stunned world No. 5 Jessca Pegula in three sets.

Raducanu and Boulter had been headed for a possible all-British semi-final at Eastbourne before reality stepped in.

London suburbanite Raducanu went down with 29 unforced errors while Kasatkina hit 18 winners.

“I was trying to be in control of myself, because the conditions were very tough,” the winner said. 

“It’s very difficult to do some nice things. You have to play and try to win as many points as you can, try to put as many balls as you can inside the court, and I think I did this pretty good today.”