Andy Murray's Queen's Club comeback ended in a blur of 140mph serves from top seed Matteo Berrettini at the cinch Championships.
Murray, who won his first singles match on grass in three years on Tuesday, was overpowered 6-3 6-3 by the world number nine.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Murray admitted afterwards the groin problem which forced him to miss the French Open is still troubling him, meaning it is unlikely he will play any more matches before Wimbledon, which begins a week on Monday.
But how good is it to have @andy_murray back on court?#cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/GUptncxUVP — LTA (@the_LTA) June 17, 2021
Murray said: "I actually felt my movement was actually quite good for both of the matches. My tennis today was not very good. That's the thing that I'll need to improve the most.
"Then there is still a slight niggle in the groin, so to try to get rid of that discomfort between now and Wimbledon.
"I need to be playing points, basically. I played two sets in preparation for this event.
"I do feel like I genuinely have been hitting the ball well in practice, but then like today when you're under a bit more pressure and stuff and you're having to make very split-second decisions when you're on the court, if the guy is serving 140 miles an hour, like, it's difficult to prepare for that."
Berrettini, a former US Open semi-finalist, was always going to be a tougher proposition than Murray's first-round opponent, the lacklustre Frenchman Benoit Paire.
The 6ft 4in Italian Berrettini, with one title under his belt already this season, regularly boomed down those lightning serves and secured a break for 3-2 when the Scot wafted a forehand long.
Pure magic from Dan Evans 😮 Coming up clutch at the #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/kCPYEPOdSE — LTA (@the_LTA) June 17, 2021
Murray faced two set points on his own serve and surrendered the second when he dumped a forehand low into the net.
The 34-year-old had a chance to claw back an early break in the second but was unable to take advantage as Berrettini moved 3-0 ahead.
And Murray's bid to reach a seventh Queen's Club quarter-final, and a first since he won the title in 2016, ended when Berrettini ruthlessly held to love.
So there will be no England v Scotland appetiser ahead of the football on Friday, with Berretini instead taking on British number one Dan Evans.
Evans earlier reached his first Queen's quarter-final with a 6-4 7-6 (7) victory over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.
In doing so Evans joined Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper in the quarters, meaning three British players have reached the last eight at Queen's for the first time in the Open era.
Evans looked in for an easy afternoon when he took the first eight points of the match but Mannarino, the world number 42, proved a tricky customer once he settled.
He needed a further break to take the first set and saved a set point in the second before winning a closely-fought tie-break.
Evans said: "It was a tough match mentally more than anything, to try and hold on and hold my nerve at the end as well, I was down set point.
"I thought I did a good job of playing my game in the end and came up with some good serves when I needed them."
Evans' victory also meant three Britons have reached the quarter-finals of an ATP Tour event for the first time since Nottingham in 1996, when Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Mark Petchey got through.
