Dan Evans knocked out of US Open second round as Brit loses in four sets to Corentin Moutet

British interest in the singles at the US Open ended disappointingly early with Dan Evans’ defeat being the last representative to fall.

Four British men reached the second round in New York for the first time in nearly 50 years, with Johanna Konta also winning her opening match, but fortunes have nosedived since.

Only Cameron Norrie reached the third round, for the first time in his career at a grand slam, but he was unable to take advantage of a very good chance to go further, losing 7-6 (2) 4-6 6-2 6-1 to Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Evans followed his countryman onto Court Five for the conclusion of his second-round clash against another 21-year-old, France’s Corentin Moutet, after rain intervened on Thursday evening.

They resumed at one-set all and Evans won the first point to take the third set to a tie-break.

He led 4-1 in that but lost six of the next seven points and then let slip a 3-0 lead in the fourth set as 77th-ranked Moutet triumphed 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-1).

Evans has secured some tremendous victories this season but his two most disappointing losses have come at the slams, with this defeat following one to another tenacious competitor, Yoshihito Nishioka, in Australia in January.

The 23rd seed berated himself for his performance, saying: ‘I was up in the match on numerous occasions so there’s nothing to blame apart from myself.

‘You’ve got to win those matches. You just have to win them if you want to be a good tennis player, if you want to get up the rankings you can’t lose that match.

‘I didn’t do anything really well. My forehand was woeful. I lost in four tight sets but I played as bad as I’ve got. Obviously I have to go home and think about a few things.’