Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon dream is over after the home favourite was out-powered by Caroline Garcia in their second-round match on Wednesday.
The British 10th seed, who was short of match practice after three weeks out with a side strain, could not handle the aggression of her French opponent who secured a 6-3, 6-3 victory in 86 minutes.
It was desperately disappointing for US Open champion Raducanu, who blazed on to the scene last year when she reached the fourth round at the All England Club and then went on to complete her remarkable triumph at Flushing Meadows.
“Emma is a huge player and in her home tournament and she proved she can do very well on the bug stage,” said Garcia in her on-court interview, “I really enjoyed playing on Centre Court, it was my first time and very special.
“I am a French player so I know how it is in Roland Garros. It's fair that they support Emma and of course it a great memory for me and as always it is a lot of respect.”
The Frenchwoman is ranked down at 55 but, having been tipped as a future world No 1 by Andy Murray as a teenager, has been as high as No 4.
No 2 seed Anett Kontaveit became the biggest casualty so far in the women's draw when the Estonian lost to world No 97 Jule Niemeier of Germany 6-4, 6-0.
Kontaveit has a miserable record at Wimbledon having never reached the fourth round, in what is now eight appearances, the only Grand Slam in which she has failed to get that far.
The world No 3 has talked about suffering fatigue this year following a Covid-19 infection and has not played a match since the French Open last month where she was beaten in the first round.
“It's amazing,” said Niemeier, who will take on Ukrianian Lesia Tsurenko in her first Grand Slam third round. “It's one of the greatest wins of my career so far.”
Two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza is also out after losing to Greet Minnen of Belgium 6-4, 6-0. The 2017 winner at SW19, who is seeded ninth, made 33 unforced errors and hit only nine winners during their rain-delayed match.
There were no such problems for seventh seed Karolina Pliskova in her first-round match as the Czech battled to victory over countrywoman Tereza Martincova 7-6, 7-5.
Pliskova will return to action on Thursday when she will face British hope Katie Boulter.
American eighth seed Jessica Pegula also secured passage to the second round after a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Donna Vekic of Croatia.
Latvia's Jeļena Ostapenko eased into the third round after the 12th seed knocked out Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-2, 6-2.
A day after eliminating Serena Williams in her debut at the grass-court Grand Slam, Harmony Tan angered her doubles partner by withdrawing from that competition with a thigh injury.
Tan, a Frenchwoman ranked 115th who beat the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion on Centre Court on Tuesday, was scheduled to team with Tamara Korpatsch for their opening doubles match on Wednesday.
“She just texted this morning. Let me wait here 1 hour before the match start,” Korpatsch wrote in an Instagram post. “I'm very sad, disappointed and also very angry that I can't play my 1st Doubles Grand Slam.
“And it’s really not fair for me … I didn’t deserve that. If you’re broken after a three [hour] match the day before, you can’t play professional [tennis]. That’s my opinion.”
