British players suffered a tough day Down Under with a raft of defeats on Monday. Both Dan Evans and Kyle Edmund lost in straight sets in the opening round of their final warm-ups for the Australian Open, the second Adelaide International.
And also the three Britons in action in Australian Open qualifying – Paul Jubb, Heather Watson and Sonay Kartal - all lost their respective matches.
A host of their countrymen and women still have the chance to make it into the main draw for the first Grand Slam of the year, which gets underway on Monday.
There are six Brits in action in qualifying on Tuesday: Katie Swan, Katie Boulter, Liam Broady, Jodie Burrage, Yuriko Miyazaki and Ryan Peniston.
In Adelaide, Evans had been ranked fifth but struggled to hold serve in a 7-5, 7-5 loss to Mackenzie McDonald, the American breaking Evans on five separate occasions.
Edmund, who has had a lengthy spell on the sidelines after knee surgery, showed signs of promise but failed to take any of his break-point opportunities as Miomir Kecmanovic sealed a break point in each set for a 6-4, 7-5 victory.
Jack Draper was the only player to stop the rot as he beat Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 6-2 in the Adelaide event.
Those competing at the Australian Open, meanwhile, have been told they will not be required to take Covid-19 tests and can even compete should they test positive for the virus.
Tournament director Craig Tiley said: “It’s a normalised environment for us and, not dissimilar to the cricket, there will potentially be players that will compete with Covid.”
