Great Britain's Cameron Norrie was swept aside by Norway's Casper Ruud in the final of the San Diego Open on Sunday.
The British number two overcame Kevin Anderson, Dan Evans, Denis Shapovalov and Andrey Rublev for a shot at glory, but Norwegian second seed Ruud produced a dominant display in the final.
Norrie lost 6-0 6-2 to his Scandinavian counterpart - his fifth ATP singles final defeat in six attempts - with his only win in five finals this season coming at Los Cabos in July.
Simply sensational 👏
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 4, 2021
🇳🇴 @CasperRuud98 becomes the first man to win FIVE tour-level titles in 2021 after claiming the #SanDiegoOpen title 🏆 pic.twitter.com/ye4NDiXnmc
Ruud outlined his intentions to finish the 2021 season at the top of the title pile, telling reporters after the match: "Daniil (Medvedev) and Novak (Djokovic) have bigger titles, so I wouldn't mind switching up with them if I had an opportunity to switch five 250s to three Slams and a 250 Novak has.
"It's a bit higher level, but that's fine. I think that's more impressive obviously than five 250s, but I will take it. It would be fun to end the year with the most titles, I cannot lie about that."
Norrie will now look ahead to the imminent BNP Paribas Open - where he is seeded 24th - with compatriot Evans the highest British seed for the California tournament at 18.
