It proved a morning to forget at the Paris Masters for the British contingent on Wednesday as both Jack Draper and Dan Evans crashed out of the tournament in quick succession.
Neither player went into their respective ties as favourites although Draper’s match against Frances Tiafoe had the prospect of him breaking into the world’s top 40 for the first time in his career if victorious.
But the No16 seed, a US Open semi-finalist earlier this year, managed to keep the British rising star at bay throughout for a 6-3, 7-5.
Left-hander Draper’s serve has proved his strongest facet climbing up the world rankings and he won 88 per cent of points on first serve. But it proved too inconsistent, giving his American opponent the opportunity to break and take the first set.
The second was far tighter as it went 5-5 before the pressure told on Draper, a faulty service game in the 11th to hand Tiafoe another break point, which he duly converted before serving out the match.
It does not end the 20-year-old’s season having already qualified for the Next Gen Finals in Milan next week.
But Evans looks set to pack up for the season after losing moments later to fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. The British No2 is now 4-0 down in career meetings with the Greek but this was the closest he has got in what proved a 6-3, 6-4 defeat.
Tsitsipas has the opportunity to potentially pile further misery on the British contingent in the French capital as he awaits the winner of Cameron Norrie’s match on Wednesday night against Corentin Moutet.
Andy Murray had been the first of the four British players to bow out in Paris after losing in three sets to Gilles Simon on Monday night.
