Great Britain's hopes of Monte Carlo Masters glory are over for another year as Jack Draper fell to a three-set defeat to Hubert Hurkacz in Tuesday's first-round match.
The 22-year-old's compatriots Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans had already lost at the first hurdle on Monday, leaving Draper as the last man standing for the Brits ahead of his reunion with Hurkacz.
The Pole had defeated Draper in last year's Monte Carlo Masters before the latter earned a slice of revenge at the US Open, but Hurkacz came out on top 6-4 3-6 7-6[2] in two hours and 24 minutes this time around.
Tuesday's fascinating battle pitted one of the best servers on the 2024 ATP Tour in Hurkacz against one of the finest returners in Draper, but early mistakes from the 22-year-old allowed the world number eight to build up an early 3-0 lead.
Draper came back fighting and levelled the opening set at 4-4, but while serving to stay in the set in the 10th game, an untimely double fault on break point gifted Hurkacz the opener.
It was the Pole's turn to make several errors in the second set, though, as a resurgent Draper earned two breaks to love to force a decider, where the Briton was staring down the barrel of elimination at 5-3 down.
Novak Djokovic through as Carlos Alcaraz withdraws
Novak Djokovic takes just 1 hour and 9 minutes to cruise through his first match at Monte Carlo this year! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/HG8KwAoENc
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) April 9, 2024
However, the 22-year-old had some fight left in him and managed to break back while Hurkacz was serving for a spot in the second round, but his efforts just delayed the Pole's progression as the 10th seed dominated the tie-breaker.
Hurkacz can now look forward to a second-round clash with Spanish qualifier Roberto Bautista Agut, and elsewhere on Tuesday, top seed and two-time champion Novak Djokovic needed just 70 minutes to defeat Roman Safiullin.
The Serbian eased to a 6-1 6-2 triumph in their second-round battle and will now face Arthur Fils or Lorenzo Musetti in the last 32, but Carlos Alcaraz will not be present in the latter stages of the clay tournament.
The 20-year-old - who is still waiting for his first singles win in Monte Carlo - was due to face Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime on Wednesday but was forced to withdraw due to a forearm injury.
Alcaraz was seen with strapping on his arm during practice for the ATP 1000 tournament, and Auger-Aliassime will instead face Italian lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego after defeating the Italian's compatriot Luca Nardi 6-2 6-3 in round one.
Ben Knapton
