British number two Cameron Norrie is out of the Cincinnati Open after suffering a second-round loss to veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.
Norrie recently beat the world number 53 in four sets at Wimbledon, with his first-round win sparking a run to the quarter-finals at the All England Club.
As the 32nd seed in Ohio, Norrie had a first-round bye before meeting the 37-year-old Spaniard, but with the temperature passing 30C, he seemed to struggle in the heat on the way to a 6-4 6-3 defeat.
Norrie’s last outing came at the Canadian Open, where he was beaten by world number 99 Aleksandar Vukic in the second round.
He continued his US Open preparations in Cincinnati and Bautista Agut did well to hold his serve following three lengthy games, while breaking Norrie’s in the fourth game.
When serving at 5-2 down, Norrie was visibly drenched in sweat and changed his shirt prior to deuce before staving off two set points.
The 29-year-old then broke back to make it 5-4 – from his sixth break point – but served a double fault in the following game, allowing Bautista Agut to clinch the first set.
Norrie continued to look unwell during the second but remained competitive, saving five match points to cut his deficit to 5-3, despite serving three double faults.
But Bautista Agut, playing just his second match since Wimbledon, made no mistake on his second match point in the following game.
After Montreal, this is the second straight tournament Norrie has fallen at his first hurdle and he has lost three of his five matches since his run at SW19 was halted by world number two Carlos Alcaraz.
Sixth seed Alex de Minaur was also dumped out on Sunday, with the Australian losing 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 to American Reilly Opelka, the world number 73.
