Katie Boulter, Cameron Norrie and Fran Jones all exited the Miami Open, ending British hopes in the singles events.
Norrie, who replaced Jack Draper as British No 1 last week, pushed American Alex Michelsen to three sets in their second-round encounter before falling 7-5 6-7(4-7) 6-4.
The 30-year-old has rediscovered some of his best tennis in the ‘Sunshine Double’ of Indian Wells and Miami, beating Alex de Minaur in California before his run was ended by Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals, but was narrowly edged out here.
He lost a tight first set as 21-year-old Michelsen broke in the 12th game, before coming back from 3-0 down in the second set to force and win a tie-break.
But Michelsen broke again in the third game of the third set and kept his nose in front to make the third round, where he will play Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
Boulter’s good run in Miami – where she reached the third round of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in over a year – came to an end at the hands of 13th seed Karolina Muchova.
The former French Open finalist broke twice in the first set and once again in the second set to win 6-3 7-5 and set up a last-16 meeting with young talent Alexandra Eala.
British No 4 Jones achieved a childhood dream by beating Venus Williams in the first round but retired with illness against another American, world No 5 Jessica Pegula, in the second.
Jones was unwell throughout her win over Williams and was frequently heard coughing on court, and continued to be affected by a chest infection as she retired at 6-1, 3-0 down against Pegula.
She said: “I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to play Venus, but it’s a whole different ball game playing Jess.
“You need to be 10 out of 10 to compete against her and I’m probably a four out of 10 today. If I’m not able to give my everything out there, I don’t see the point when I’m already battling my general fitness as it is.”
Jones has endured a frustrating stop-start career as a result of physical issues caused by a rare genetic condition, Ectrodactyly Ectodermal Dysplasia (EEC), which means she has three fingers and a thumb on each hand and seven toes.
The 25-year-old broke into the top 100 last year and earned her biggest career win against world No 15 Emma Navarro in Auckland at the start of this season, but is frequently stymied by injury and illness problems, as was the case in Miami.
Elsewhere former major champion Naomi Osaka cast doubt on whether she will continue competing if she continues to endure early losses, after losing 7-5 6-4 to Australian rising star Talia Gibson.
Seeded 16th, Osaka received a first-round bye but was comprehensively outplayed by the 21-year-old, who has now beaten four top-20 players in the space of three weeks.
Afterwards Osaka said she was struggling to balance motherhood – she gave birth to daughter Shai in July 2023 – with attempting to get back to the top of the sport.
“I feel like this also is a dilemma for me,” she said. “Obviously, I would love to play, but like I said last year … for me, my daughter is very important, and I want to be a mum. I want to be the best mum I can, but sometimes I feel like I know what I have to do to become a really good player, and it’s very difficult.
“I’m not going to stay on tour if I’m losing in the first round. I’d rather just be a great mum and be there for my daughter. Because for me, I want to win titles and I want to be the best player I can, but if I have to sacrifice having a lot of time with my daughter, I’d rather not do it.”
