British number two Harriet Dart could not build on a fast start against Hungary's Anna Bondar as she lost to the 25-year-old in straight sets in their Transylvania Open second-round match.
Dart had come through her first-round battle with France's Oceane Dodin with ease but fell to a 6-7[3] 4-6 defeat to the eighth seed in one hour and 52 minutes.
In the opening game of the contest, Bondar skewed a backhand wide to hand Dart two break points, and the Brit came up with a stunning forehand that her opponent could only return into the net.
The Hungarian eighth seed recovered from that early setback with a couple of nice holds, albeit without the crucial break back as Dart continued to produce an array of neat shots to maintain her advantage.
A stellar backhand from Bondar handed her two break points in game eight, but an aggressive Dart saved one – forcing the Hungarian into a long forehand – and then brought it back to deuce when Bondar's next forehand could only find the net before holding.
With Dart serving for the set after Bondar had held to love, the Brit found herself two break points down again, and despite managing to save the first one, she sent a backhand just wide of the tramlines as Bondar levelled the match at 5-5.
Harriet Dart loses out to the 8th seed Anna Bondár 7-6(3), 6-4 at the Transylvania Open#BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/YIlyA2p3KP
— LTA (@the_LTA) October 12, 2022
A tie-break would be needed to settle the first set, where Dart got off to the worst start – double-faulting to hand Bondar an early 3-0 lead.
As she had done all match, the Hungarian demonstrated her class with the cross-court forehand to bring up three set points, and an emphatic return from Dart's second serve handed the Hungarian a 1-0 lead in the match – ending a run of seven consecutive tie-break losses in the process as well.
The Bondar forehand also saw her save two break points in the second game – much to Dart's frustration after the 26-year-old thought she heard a call from a line judge – and that episode appeared to affect her momentum.
Bondar found herself with three break points in the third game of the second set and converted the final one to pile the pressure on Dart, who could not respond as the match went on.
Bondar maintained her one-game advantage and was serving for the match at 5-4, but it was a wobbly service game for the 25-year-old, who fended off four break points before finally bringing up her first match point.
Dart sent one final shot into the net as Bondar sealed her place in the last eight, where she will face either Viktorija Golubic or Anastasia Potapova.
Ben Knapton
