The British singles contingent will now turn their attentions to clay ahead of the French Open but there was better news in doubles, where Australian Open champions Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram are through to the quarter-finals
Saturday 5 September 2020 06:25, UK
Dan Evans and Cameron Norrie have been knocked out of the US Open after defeats to Corentin Moutet and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The two Brits played back-to-back on Court 5 in New York, Evans finishing his second round match and Norrie playing in the third round, and both suffered losses against opponents ranked lower than them.
The departures of Norrie and Evans follow that of Andy Murray, who was unable to replicate his first-round heroics and was knocked out in straight sets by Felix Auger-Aliassime. Kyle Edmund fell at the hands of Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Evans commenced his match against Moutet on Thursday and the encounter, which was filled with inventive shot-making, had to be paused due to the rain at 4-6 6-3 5-6 .
The British No 1 returned to court on Friday and immediately took the third set to a tie-break. He pumped his fist after notching up the first three points, and then going 4-1 ahead, before losing six of the next seven points.
Evans was fired up throughout but became riled in the fourth set due to noise from a few staff on site stopping to watch the match.
The British No 1 opened up a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, as he fought to force a decider, but once again could not make the advantage stick and Moutet fought back to level proceedings at 4-4.
The Frenchman forced another tie-break and duly dominated it to seal victory in four hours and 15 minutes.
Norrie, who had never been further than the second round in New York previously, started well against Davidovich Fokina but as the match progressed looked uncomfortable on court.
In the New York heat, Norrie had difficulty with his eyesight at the start of the third set and afterwards explained why.
"I was just really dehydrated, and my vision got a little bit blurry," he said during his post-match press conference.
"Towards the end I managed to drink a little bit more and felt better, but it was too late as he was playing freely."
Ahead of the third-round match Norrie said that he was "'more ready than ever" to take on the challenge at a Grand Slam. However, a total of 57 unforced errors and winning just 19 of 42 points on his second serve, destabilised his work on the day.
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