Britain’s Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans both lost in three-set thrillers and followed Andy Murray out at the first-round stage of the China Open.
In the qualifying rounds of the women’s draw, meanwhile, Katie Boulter progressed in straight sets against Bai Zhuoxuan, although Jodie Burrage’s interest in the tournament was ended by Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-3.
A day after Murray squandered three match points as he fell to a first-round defeat to Alex De Minaur, his countrymen were also on the wrong end of three-set defeats to end British interest in the men’s draw early.
Evans lost to sixth seed Jannick Sinner 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3, while fifth seed Andrey Rublev came from a set down to beat Norrie 4-6 6-1 6-4.
After losing the first set Evans again trailed in the second and Sinner had the chance to serve for the match.
But Evans showed his fighting spirit and broke back before going on to level the match in a tie-break.
The decider was finely poised until Sinner struck at 4-3 with a crucial break and managed to serve it out at the second attempt.
There remains British interest in Beijing after Boulter flew through her opening qualifying round match-up against Zhuoxuan 6-2 6-2.
Katie Boulter will now aim to make the main draw in final qualifying on Saturday
The British No 1 will now face Kamilla Rakhimova on Saturday in final qualifying for a place in the first-round main draw.