Kyle Edmund became the first British hopeful to be knocked out in the first round on the first day at Wimbledon, suffering a straight sets loss to world number 55 Adrian Mannarino.
Edmund struggled to get going against Mannarino, who controlled the match from the start to finish, winning 2-6, 5-7, 4-6 to advance through to the second round where he will play Novak Djokovic - who beat another Brit today, James Ward.
Edmund started well but Mannarino was too good
In a sun drenched morning at Wimbledon, Edmund began the match brilliantly on court two, holding his serve to love and looked like he was going to settle into a nice rhythm.
The Briton's confidence carried over into the next game as he won the first two points on Mannarino's serve but the Frenchman fought back well to hold his serve.
Mannarino built on that and got the first break of the set on Edmund's second service game to take a 2-1 lead and start to gather the momentum he needed to win the set.
Mannarino held his next service game well to give Edmund a really tough task to try and get back into the set. It was made harder for the Brit as his opponent broke again to take a 4-1 lead, the Frenchman looking in supreme control on his favourite surface.
Edmund though showed signs of life once again as he managed to get one of the breaks back to get the score back to 4-2. The problem though he was unable to back this up as he was broken for the third time in the set to all but give away the first set.
Mannarino needed no second chances as he won the next game on his serve expertly to take the first set 6-2 and really gave Edmund a long way back into the game.
Edmund fought hard but Mannarino shows his experience
Unfortunately, for Edmund, the second set did not start well as he was broken in the very first game of the set as Mannarino went on the offensive.
Mannarino then was able to hold his serve next game to go a set and 2-0 up which left the Brit with a lot to do.
Both players held serve well in the next few games before a titanic game when Edmund was 5-3 down and serving to stay in the set, with the Frenchman really pushing hard to win the set on his opponent's serve.
Edmund stood firm though and won it after a number of points on deuce to make sure that Mannarino had to serve the set out at 5-4.
The Frenchman was well on the way to doing this at 30-0 up but Edmund got four straight points to break back and level the set at 5-5.
Unfortunately for the 21-year-old though, who had battled so hard to get back on level terms in the set, Mannarino broke once again to serve for the set at 6-5.
The Frenchman made no mistakes this time round. Even though Edmund pushed hard for a tie-break, the Frenchman showed his class with a number of good first serves to go within one set of the second round.
Mannarino breaks at a crucial time to win in straight sets
Mannarino made the perfect start to the third set when he broke Edmund's serve once again like he did at the start of the second set. It meant that Edmund that had it all to do once again just to get back into the set.
Both players held their serve in the next two games before Edmund with all of his will and heart managed to get going and break back to level the score at 2-2 in the third set.
The next four games in the set all went with serve with both players playing some good tennis. The Frenchman though took control of the set by breaking Edmund in the ninth game of the set to go 5-4 up and with a chance to serve for the match.
Mannarino made no mistake as he held his serve to win the third set 6-4 and advance through to the second round.