A tremendous Emma Raducanu fightback was hindered by sickness as the Briton lost her second-round Australian Open match to Yafan Wang on Thursday.
The former US Open winner - competing at her first Grand Slam since last year's ankle and wrist surgeries - battled back from a set and a break down to force a decider but was evidently under the weather for large periods of the third set.
Despite having her blood pressure checked and suggesting that she was going to be sick, Raducanu continued to go toe-to-toe with Wang until she succumbed to a 4-6 6-4 4-6 defeat after a gruelling two-hour and 54-minute battle.
Raducanu was made to pay for committing numerous unforced errors in the first set and lost serve in the opening game of the second too, but she soon found a second wind, displaying laser-sharp accuracy with an array of powerful cross-court groundstrokes.
Also mixing up her approach with several well-placed drop shots, Raducanu was broken while serving for the second set before immediately returning the favour, although the decider was an uncomfortable watch for her team as she hunched over on several occasions.
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Even while feeling nauseous, the 21-year-old carved out several openings to break back on Wang's serve - seven to be exact - but the Chinese world number 94 saved all of them and advanced on her first match point as Raducanu smashed into the net from close range.
Raducanu was one of three British players to fall in the second round on Thursday, as national number one Katie Boulter - who was on course to meet Raducanu in round three - suffered a 3-6 3-6 loss to China's Qinwen Zheng.
Boulter earned one break back after losing serve in the opening game of the contest, but she only won one of the final five games of the first set, winning just 47% of points behind her first serve.
The British number one actually drew first blood in the second set, breaking for a 3-2 lead to spark hope of a comeback, but Zheng extinguished such optimism with a four-game victorious streak, getting the job done in a mammoth ninth game where Boulter saved five match points but squandered six break opportunities.
No British players are left in the women's singles as a result of Boulter and Raducanu's exits, and Jack Draper's run also came to an end at the second hurdle, losing 2-6 6-3 3-6 5-7 to the USA's Tommy Paul.
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Draper had defeated Paul in straight sets en route to the final of the Adelaide International earlier this month, but he ceded 19 break points to the American in Thursday's match, six of which Paul took to advance to round three.
However, there was one victory for the Brits to cheer, as Cameron Norrie fought back from two sets down to sink Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri 3-6 6-7[4] 6-2 6-4 6-4, thus setting up a third-round affair with Casper Ruud.
Ruud's fellow Scandinavian Holger Rune was one of the day's high-profile casualties, though, losing in four sets to French wild card Arthur Cazaux, while Elena Rybakina - who lost a record-breaking 42-point final-set tie-breaker - Jessica Pegula and Daria Kasatkina all suffered unexpected exits as well.
Iga Swiatek avoided such a fate, though, prevailing 6-4 3-6 6-4 against Danielle Collins, and men's second seed Carlos Alcaraz emerged triumphant 6-4 6-7[3] 6-3 7-6[3] against Lorenzo Sonego.
Not until nearly 4am would day five conclude, but it was a match worth staying up for, as Daniil Medvedev produced a brilliant turnaround to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6 6-7[1] 6-4 7-6[1] 6-0.
> Click here for a summary of day four's action
Ben Knapton
