Great Britain's Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans were disappointingly condemned to first-round exits at the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday.
Both men exited with a whimper in straight-sets losses, as national number one Norrie was bested 5-7 6-7[3] by Karen Khachanov after missing two match points, while Evans was demolished 1-6 4-6 by Austria's Sebastian Ofner.
No stranger to success on the clay - winning his last two titles in Lyon and Rio on the surface - Norrie returned to Monte Carlo after back-to-back third-round exits at the Miami Open and Indian Wells Masters, prolonging his streak of underwhelming ATP 1000 showings.
The world number 30 has not advanced beyond the fourth round of a Masters event since the 2023 Indian Wells tournament and went down in two hours and 24 minutes to Khachanov, despite breaking first in the inaugural set and also returning to stay in the opener in the 10th game.
Norrie could not build on that vital break back for 5-5, though, immediately losing serve in his next game before Khachanov closed out a tricky first set with an ace, and he benefitted from a series of Norrie mistakes to break immediately in the second.
The Russian was not immune from his own unforced errors, though, gifting Norrie a quick break back, and the Briton was on course to force a deciding third set when he rallied to establish a 5-3 lead.
© Reuters
However, three unforced errors in the ninth led to another Norrie loss of serve, and after also squandering two match points as Khachanov nervously held for 6-6, the British number one lost the first four points in the tie-breaker and failed to recover.
While missed openings and untimely collapses were to blame for Norrie's exit, his countryman Evans was simply outplayed throughout his tie with Ofner, who needed just 69 minutes to defeat the 33-year-old.
Only six spots separate world number 44 Ofner and world number 50 Evans in the ATP Tour rankings, and the latter reached his first Masters semi-final in Monte Carlo three years ago, but he has since failed to advance beyond round two.
After riding out a nail-biting opening service game, in which he double-faulted twice and saved two break points, Ofner ran riot against Evans, storming into a 5-0 lead as the Briton won just seven points on serve in the entire first set.
The world number 50 would belatedly show a bit more fight after immediately going a break down in the second set, but his efforts were too little too late, as Ofner beat away one break-back opportunity for Evans before converting his first match point.
With Norrie and Evans eliminated, Great Britain are already down to their last singles hope in Monte Carlo in the shape of Jack Draper, who opens his tournament against 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz on Tuesday.
Ben Knapton
