British duo Cameron Norrie and Ryan Peniston both progressed to the second round of the Queen's Club Championships on Monday, but Dan Evans and Jan Choinski were eliminated.
Taking to grass for the first time since reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals, Norrie beat Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4 7-6[5] before Evans came unstuck against Sebastian Korda 4-6 5-7.
Earlier in the day, Peniston stunned Frenchman Ugo Humbert with a 6-4 6-2 triumph, before Choinski lose 4-6 2-6 to Italian sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the evening.
Norrie would start on the front foot against Kecmanovic with an early break for a 2-0 lead, but the Serbian immediately levelled before missing five chances to break Norrie again in the fifth game.
Following that let-off, the British number one raced through his final two service games without dropping a point and broke to love in the 10th to take the first set, before establishing a 3-1 lead in the second.
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Once again, Kecmanovic restored parity straight away, and despite missing one match point on the 23-year-old's serve and three in the tie-breaker, Norrie quelled any nerves by getting the job done on his fifth attempt.
Either Milos Raonic or Jordan Thompson will await Norrie in the second round, where Evans will not be present after coming up short against Korda in one hour and 31 minutes.
Despite winning 85% of his points at the net, Evans faced a serving masterclass from the American - who posted 13 aces and zero double faults and did not allow the Briton a single break point opportunity.
Seven double faults of his own did not help Evans, who made two such errors in the seventh game for Korda's opening break and also lost his serve in the 11th game of the second set.
Korda deservedly progressed on his first match point, but there was a shock win for world number 265 Peniston, who needed just one hour and 24 minutes to see off world number 34 Humbert.
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The British wildcard - who memorably defeated Casper Ruud and Francisco Cerundolo at Queen's last year - continued his spate of giant killings thanks to a highly composed performance, making a mere five unforced errors on the day.
During a nail-biting third game in which Humbert double-faulted three times and saved five break points, Peniston finally took his sixth opportunity and moved 4-1 up before Humbert earned one break back.
The Frenchman could not complete a miraculous fightback, though, and Peniston made lightning strike twice in the second set, earning the double break for a 4-1 lead and seeing out another stellar win.
Finally, Choinski could not build on a promising start against Musetti as he lost in exactly 75 minutes to the 21-year-old, who broke for a 2-1 lead before Choinski responded straight away.
The world number 167 lost his serve once more in the seventh game and was no match for Musetti in the second, as the Italian sealed a second-round berth with back-to-back aces.
Ben Knapton
