Cameron Norrie will drop out of the world’s top 20 after losing his opening match to Federico Coria at the Argentina Open.
The British No 1 reached the final in Buenos Aires 12 months ago and had hoped to build on his strong showing at the Australian Open.
But, playing his first match since losing to Alexander Zverev in the fourth round in Melbourne, Norrie struggled to find his rhythm on the clay and was beaten 6-2 4-6 6-3 by Argentinian Coria.
Norrie improved after an error-strewn opening set and managed to level the match, but more mistakes cost him dearly in the decider.
The 28-year-old will fall to at best 23 in the rankings on Monday, and he faces another drop if he is not able to mount a successful title defence at the Rio Open next week, where 12 months ago he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
Sinner continues winning streak in Rotterdam
Meanwhile, at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his winning run to reach the quarter finals.
The Italian dropped the second set against veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils, but recovered to win 6-3 3-6 6-3.
There were two major upsets, with Alexander Shevchenko, who recently switched nationality from Russia to Kazakhstan, seeing off third seed Holger Rune 6-4 1-6 6-3 and home favourite Tallon Griekspoor defeating fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (5) 7-6 (5) 7-6 (4).
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