Australia's singles hopes in the Dubai Tennis Championships have all departed after Chris O'Connell's bold challenge against No.3 seed Hubert Hurkacz fell short.
Alexei Popyrin, who had made the last-four of the previous week's Qatar Open in Doha, had to pull out of the tournament with an abdominal strain, leaving all the onus on his fellow Sydneysider, 29-year-old O'Connell, in Wednesday's round-of-16 ties.
