Cameron Norrie found himself on the receiving end of 47 aces in two-and-a-quarter hours as he bowed out on day one at Queen’s Club to Milos Raonic.
The Canadian repeatedly rained down serves around the 140mph mark, which for much of the time Norrie could do little about.
But just a few days after being usurped as British No1 by Jack Draper he did well to stay with his big-serving opponent before coming up just short 7-6, 3-6, 7-6.
He will be left to rue a missed opportunity, though, with two match points in the deciding tiebreak, the first of which went begging when he sent a gettable forehand just long.
Eventually he capitulated to his opponent’s metronomic rocket serve, his tally at the end of the match the highest ever recorded in a three-set contest.
Raonic is only just inside the world’s top 200, a false indicator after a catalogue of injuries and only returned to competition last week after having last played back in March.
For Norrie, the result continued his slump in form. In his last eight tournaments, he has only made it out of the second round on one occasion and the former Wimbledon semi-finalist heads to the tournament short of form and confidence.
Known on the ATP Tour as a model of consistency, Norrie has struggled to string together a series of good performances.
And yet there were positives to take, playing well for much of the match and doing well to edge out Raonic in the opening-set tiebreak when he hadn’t been given a sniff on his opponent’s serve before that sudden death.
Norrie was broken in his opening service game of the second set, which always left him playing catch-up. He had one chance to break back but couldn’t convert it.
He faced break point on his opening service game in the deciding set but this time held serve, and also got a sniff of a break on the Raonic serve as his serve briefly eluded him. But the respite was short-lived and he served himself out of danger.
Norrie had half a chance at 0-30 on Raonic’s final service game, which eventually went to a tiebreak. The Briton had match points at 7-6 and 8-7 but couldn’t convert either as Raonic took his opportunity.
