Emma Raducanu LOSES the first set of last-16 match against qualifier Lulu Sun... 24 hours after Brit ended Andy Murray's Wimbledon career by pulling out of mixed doubles with 'soreness'

Emma Raducanu made hard work for herself after dropping the opening set of her last-16 match against qualifier Lulu Sun.

Raducanu was all smiles as she emerged onto Centre Court, just 24 hours after her withdrawal from mixed doubles ended Andy Murray's Wimbledon career. 

The Brit pulled out to prioritise her singles run after she felt 'soreness' in her right wrist, causing a row online.

On Saturday she practised with strapping on her wrist but when she appeared to take on Sun on Sunday there was no sign of the strapping from a day prior. 

Raducanu made a tentative start and was swiftly punished, being broken in her opening two service games to fall in a 3-0 hole. 

Roared on by the crowd, the 21-year-old finally looked to settle in the fourth game, forcing a break point opportunity with a brilliant cross-court backhand winner.

A double fault from Sun, who is playing in the biggest match of her career to date, gave Raducanu one of her breaks of serve back.

But Sun has proven to be a fierce competitor without much fanfare and after breaking Raducanu again to go up 5-2 she held her nerve impressively to close it out. 

It was imperative Raducanu made a strong start to the second set and at 30-30 she let out a huge roar when she took control of the rally - and then the point - to eventually hold. 

Much has been made of Sun's composure and she showed it by the bucketload here in a match where she was - perhaps unwisely - thoroughly unfavoured. 

Sun was left to rue a gifted break point opportunity in the third game of the second set, sending a routine volley deep beyond the baseline when Raducanu's hopeful return looked to be going out.

The match arrived on the back of plenty of noise on social media overnight regarding the abandonment of the Murray mixed doubles.

Raducanu cited right wrist soreness as the reason behind her withdrawal and Judy Murray unhelpfully labelled the young Brit's decision to not play in the mixed doubles as 'astonishing'. 

But, on Sunday morning, Judy Murray appeared to row back on her criticism of Raducanu and her team and instead directed her ire at Wimbledon's organisers.

Raducanu and Andy Murray were due to take to No 1 Court as the fourth match of the day, meaning an 11pm finish was not out of the question.

That would have been terrible preparation for Raducanu ahead of her fourth round singles match against Lulu Sun, and Judy took to X, formerly Twitter, to fume at the scheduling. 

'Not sure anyone understands sarcasm these days,' she said, in relation to her prior post about Raducanu's 'astonishing' withdrawal. 

The reality of the situation is that with rain causing havoc in the opening week of the tournament, the All England Club found themselves needing to prioritise the scheduling of singles matches.

There is pressure to play singles matches before doubles, and one of Murray-Raducanu's scheduled opponents, Marcelo Arevalo, was finishing his men's doubles match on Saturday morning, so they could hardly ask him to go back-to-back.

Another factor that complicated this particular mixed doubles match was that given the huge interest in it organisers were eager to put it on a show court, limiting the available slots available. 

More to follow.