Surprise visit -- finally left in tears, sadly (7)
I believe the answer is:
startle
'surprise' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'visit finally left in tears sadly' is the wordplay.
'finally' suggests the final letters.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation**).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'sadly' indicates an anagram.
The last letter of 'visit' is 't'.
't'+'l'='tl'
'tears' with letters rearranged gives 'stare'.
'tl' going within 'stare' is 'STARTLE'.
(Other definitions for startle that I've seen before include "Cause to feel sudden alarm" , "Surprise with fright" , "Take (someone) aback" , "Shock (someone)" , "Make jump" .)