British number two Dan Evans suffered a shock defeat to Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic in the first round of the Stockholm Open on Monday.
The 33-year-old - who was seeded eighth for the ATP 250 tournament - lost 4-6 6-7[1] to the world number 181, who took one hour and 40 minutes to shock his British counterpart.
Evans travelled to Scandinavia on the back of a third-round Shanghai Masters exit to Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, where he broke the world number two twice in a battling display before falling just short.
However, the world number 34 got off to a disastrous start against Misolic with unforced errors and a double fault in the first game of the match, allowing the Austrian to break immediately.
Evans broke back in the fourth game, but another double fault in the ninth preceded another serving collapse for the Briton, and Misolic saw out the first set in style with an ace to finish a love hold.
Evans came out fighting in the second set and stormed into a 4-1 lead, but while serving to force a third set, yet another double fault from the world number 34 on break point offered Misolic an unexpected route back.
Needing to hold his nerve in the tie-breaker, Evans instead suffered another calamitous collapse, falling 6-1 down in a flash and conceding defeat with a final unforced error on serve.
Evans was one of three British men to fall to defeat on Monday, as Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper were also knocked out in the first round of the Japan Open.
Ben Knapton
