Great Britain's Andy Murray suffered a second-round exit at the Zhuhai Championships on Saturday, but Cameron Norrie made it through to the quarter-finals.
Murray's tournament came to a swift end as the former world number one lost 6-4 3-6 2-6 to Russia's Aslan Karatsev, before Norrie - who could have met Murray in the last eight - strolled past Marc Polmans 6-0 6-3.
Competing in China for the first time since 2019, Murray had put home qualifier Ye Cong Mo to the sword in the first round, albeit in sweltering conditions which took their toll on the 36-year-old.
Murray was also out for a slice of revenge against Karatsev, who triumphed in their first meeting during the 2022 Sydney Classic final, and he was on the road to redemption with a double break for a 5-2 lead in the first set.
By that point, Murray had already beaten away four break points, but he lost his serve while trying to wrap up the set as Karatsev cut the deficit to 5-4, but the Briton survived another couple of scares to get the job done in the 10th game.
Karatsev stormed into a 4-1 lead in the second set, but a couple of double faults allowed Murray to win the next two games on the bounce, only to lose his serve for 5-3 as Karatsev levelled the match.
© Reuters
A jaded Murray was comfortably outfought in the decider, losing the first four games and only winning one point on serve before a belated hold, but he failed to make any more inroads on the Karatsev serve as the Russian set up a quarter-final with Norrie.
Seeded second for the Zhuhai Championships, Norrie travelled to China aiming to shake off a disappointing Davis Cup campaign, where he suffered back-to-back defeats to Stanislas Wawrinka and Ugo Humbert.
The British number one redeemed himself and then some with an emphatic win after just 76 minutes against the Australian world number 152, hitting 25 winners compared to just 12 for Polmans.
A first-set whitewash saw Norrie record a bagel straight away, also losing just two points on his first serve in the process, and he extended his winning streak to nine games during a blistering start to the second set.
Polmans would belatedly get on the board to reduce the deficit to 3-1 and restricted Norrie to few openings on serve following that hold, and the Briton would initially struggle to serve out the match.
Norrie double-faulted twice in the ninth game of the second set, allowing Polmans to get back to 30-30, but the 28-year-old eventually came through to keep his hopes of a sixth ATP Tour singles crown alive.
Ben Knapton
