A lacklustre James Ward has suffered a straight-sets defeat to Mischa Zverev in the final qualifying round for the Indian Wells Masters.
The British number two had been hoping to reproduce the form that saw him defeat John Isner in the Davis Cup last Friday, but the 27-year-old appeared to be suffering from his recent hectic schedule.
After stepping onto court for his first qualifier just 24 hours after landing in California, Ward came through a two-and-a-half-hour contest with Mitchell Krueger. That match took its toll to allow Zverev, a former world number 45, a comfortable win.
The German broke Ward's serve twice during the opener to earn an early advantage before he raced through the second set to register a 6-3 6-1 victory.
Ward made the second round of last year's tournament after earning a lucky loser's spot when suffering defeat at the same stage of qualifying.
Darren Plant
