A raw beginner finishes in tears (5)
I believe the answer is:
rends
'tears' is the definition.
(rending is a kind of tearing)
'a raw beginner finishes' is the wordplay.
'beginner' says to take the initial letters.
'finishes' becomes 'ends' ('end' can be a synonym of 'finish').
The initial letter of 'raw' is 'r'.
'r'+'ends'='RENDS'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for rends that I've seen before include "Tears apart" , "Tears asunder" .)