Harriet Dart rues fine margins in Surbiton loss to Tatjana Maria

Harriet Dart admitted that fine margins cost her dearly after being eliminated from the LTA’s Lexus Surbiton Trophy in the Round of 16 by top seed Tatjana Maria.

The British No.4 fell to a 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4 defeat on centre court but showed incredible spirit to push the tournament’s top seed to the absolute limit in the glaring West London sun.

A win for Dart would have meant there would be five British women in the quarter-finals of the tournament, the most in its history.

But Dart admitted that she lost to the better player.

“In the third set, I had it in my hands,” said Dart. “There were a lot of game points, I didn’t take my chances and those are the fine margins of tennis.

“I have done better than last year, last year I played poorly.

“For me, it is a better tournament this year to get two matches.

“But I had a really good grass season last year after losing in the first round here, so I don’t really think too much into it.

“I just think about the next tournament, and yeah, this week is about finding my feet on the grass.

“I am disappointed to have only played two matches here, but it is going to set me up well over the next few weeks.”

There was a stoppage in the third set as a spectator required medical attention in the sweltering West London sunshine.

And Dart wished the spectator well despite falling to defeat.

Dart said: “It was 6-4 in the third and it was a long match, there was an interruption as well, so I hope that lady is ok.

“It was pretty swirly in tough conditions, but she deserved to win.

“I have actually never had a disruption like that before.

“Obviously it is very different when your opponent goes off for a toilet break or something like that.

“We are both in the same boat and again I just hope the lady is ok.

“I knew exactly what to expect from my opponent, everyone knows her game style, I definitely had a slow start in the first set which didn’t help me.

“I took a long time to adjust, and then it got a bit better.”

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