Emma Raducanu CRASHES OUT of the Indian Wells at the last 32 stage after defeat to Petra Martic

Emma Raducanu showed flashes of the player who stunned the tennis world in New York five months ago before she ultimately faded in the California desert.

The 19 year-old US Open champion went out of the BNP Paribas Open last night when she was beaten 6-7 6-4 7-5 in the third round by experienced Croatian Petra Martic at Indian Wells.

Raducanu served for the match in the decider against a wily opponent, but lacked the composure – and arguably stamina – to get herself over the line. Andy Murray also missed chances when he was later beaten 7-6 6-3 by Alexander Bublik. 

Emma Raducanu took the first set in a tie break following an intense battle with Petra Martic

It had been the latest sobering defeat for the Britain’s number one woman, who got another painful reminder that she is still some way off developing the physical robustness needed to back up her demonstrable talent.

There were also illustrations of why she has risen so quickly in some brilliant points against a former top twenty player who performed above her currently reduced ranking of 79.

The biggest challenge for Raducanu after a stop-start season is finding the durability to last a match which went two and three quarter hours, with the speed of her shots and her serve diminishing as it progressed.

Martic drew level by claiming the second set as she broke Raducanu on three occasions

Raducanu led in the final set but lost her final two service games to exit the Indian Wells

The Kent teenager was furious with herself at the end as she failed to serve the match out at 5-4 in the third. 

The match was full of variety, partly because of the unpredictability of 32 year-old Martic, who can mix deft drop shots with huge forehands and wild misses.

Raducanu certainly resembled the player who won at Flushing Meadows when, having failed to serve the set out at 5-3, she launched herself into the tiebreaker.

A flurry of brilliant groundstroke winners ensued, including a drilled forehand down the line which clinched it, yet she could not sustain that heady level.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka became emotional after being heckled by a spectator before her match

Murray was left in his current pattern of taking one step forward and then one back when he was defeated 7-6 6-3 by the mercurial Bublik.

The 34 year-old Scot forced three set points before losing the tiebreak 11-9. His struggles to peak on the biggest points continue, although the Kazakh produced huge serves when he needed to.

When he reunites with Ivan Lendl this month, his Czech mentor will try and break the sequence of encouraging wins being followed up by dispiriting defeats.

There are new fears over the future of Naomi Osaka after the Japanese player became emotional after being heckled by a spectator at the start of her second round defeat.

Andy Murray of Great Britain throws his racket to the ground during his straight sets defeat

A woman shouted out ‘Naomi, you suck!’ at the four-times Grand Slam champion early on during what turned out to be a 6-0 6-4 to Russia’s Veronica Kudermertova.

After the match Osaka explained that the incident brought back images of how the Williams sisters suffered sustained abuse at Indian Wells in 2001.

‘To be honest, I’ve gotten heckled before and it didn’t really bother me,’ she said. ‘But I watched a video of Venus and Serena getting heckled here, and I don’t know why, but it got into my head.’

Like Raducanu and Murray, Osaka’s next event is due to be the Miami Open later this month.