Great Britain suffered a devastating double blow at the Queen's Club Championships and Birmingham Classic on Friday, as Cameron Norrie and Harriet Dart were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Norrie was subjected to a 6-4 7-6[1] defeat to the USA's Sebastian Korda at Queen's, before Dart's run in Birmingham was brought to an end by Anastasia Potapova 4-6 6-3 6-4, despite going a set and a break up on the day.
British number one Norrie - who had made hard work of his second-round win over Jordan Thompson - was made to pay for an error-strewn performance in a two-set loss to Korda, who took one hour and 25 minutes to get the job done.
Norrie had to beat away two break points in his opening service game before Korda finally converted one of his chances for a 3-2 lead, and the American subsequently saved two break-back points to hold for a 4-2 advantage.
Norrie returned well in the 10th game before a mishit forehand on set point gifted Korda the opener, and another succession of errors on that side for the Briton once again saw him lose his serve in the fifth game.
However, Norrie broke straight back for 3-3 as Korda went long - also submitting two successful challenges in that game alone - and he kept his hopes of a semi-final berth alive by forcing a tie-breaker.
© Reuters
A calamitous collapse would soon follow for the world number 13, though, as he lost the first four points of the tie-breaker and produced yet another forehand error on Korda's first match point to bow out.
Dart would not fare much better in her battle with world number 21 Potapova in Birmingham, as despite taking the opening set, the home favourite could not keep the momentum going against a player renowned for her three-set fightbacks.
A break to love in the opening game saw Dart get off to the dream start, and while Potapova got the match back on serve in the sixth game, Dart broke back immediately before surviving a slight scare to take her first set point.
Dart was not made to pay for four double faults in the first set, but she produced an identical quartet of mistakes in the second which proved fatal, as Potapova capitalised on her opponent's ailing service game.
The Briton did go a set and a break up at 2-1, but Potapova fought back expertly with a four-game winning streak and hold to 15 to force a third set, in which she put one foot in the semis with a break in the third game.
The home crowd began to cut more optimistic figures when Dart broke back for 3-3, but the Briton subsequently crouched to the ground in anguish as she netted a backhand in the seventh game to lose serve immediately.
Dart would at least force Potapova to serve the match out and impressively saved two match points thanks to a stunning forehand return and double fault, but it would end up being third time lucky for the Russian, who came from a set down to win for the third time this week.
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