Cameron Norrie suffered defeat to Alexander Zverev to end British singles hopes at the Australian Open.
Norrie was the only British player to make the third round and knew he would have his work cut out against third seed Zverev, who has now beaten him in all seven of their tour-level meetings.
Two years ago, Norrie pushed the German all the way to a fifth-set tie-break in the last 16 at Melbourne Park, and he gave himself a chance again by taking the second set before this time fading to a 7-5 4-6 6-3 6-1 defeat.
Norrie's game plan was apparent from the start, the 26th seed stepping into the court and attacking Zverev at every opportunity.
It brought him a break to love in just the second game but Norrie was unable to cement it, and the metronomic German took the opening set after breaking serve again in the 11th game.
Norrie did not let his head drop, though, continuing to take an aggressive approach which eventually paid off as he broke serve to clinch the second set.
Parity did not last long, though, a poor service game from the British No 2 at 1-1 in the third game handing Zverev the initiative again, and from there he tightened his grip.
The third seed was relentless in the fourth set, with Norrie only ending a run of seven games in a row against him when he was 5-0 down to merely delay Zverev's march to victory.
"I was up to the task today," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "Cameron probably played the best match we've ever played, level wise, so I'm happy with the win and happy to move forward.
"I actually thought I was serving badly, but I was hitting my forehand big and quite well.
"Moving forward, that's the shot that's going to make me win or lose. If I'm confident in that shot, it's very important."
Rod Laver Arena was treated to a festival of trick shots as Carlos Alcaraz continued his smooth Australian Open progress with victory over Corentin Moutet.
The flamboyant Frenchman is one of the few players on tour to possess a similar arsenal of flair to Alcaraz, and what the contest lacked in competitive tension it certainly made up for in entertainment.
Both men produced tweeners, drop shots and lobs aplenty, with Moutet pulling off consecutive underarm serves early in the second set.
The only time a smile left Alcaraz's face was when his opponent fought back from 3-0 down in that set with a run of four games in a row, but the world No 1 showed this was no exhibition by digging in and pulling away to win 6-2 6-4 6-1.
Next up for Alcaraz is a meeting with 19th seed Tommy Paul, who led Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-1 6-1 when the Spaniard pulled the plug.
"It wasn't easy when you play someone like Corentin, you don't know what's going to be next," said Alcaraz, who is through to the fourth round without dropping a set.
"That's really difficult but I had so much fun on the court. I think we both pulled off great shots, great points, there were a few highlights. I'm just grateful to play these type of matches.
"I said to my team, 'I'm not going to run for another drop shot. I've been to the net like 55 times, oh my God'. I thought we were in a drop shot competition, but definitely he won."
There will be yet another clash, meanwhile, between three-time former finalist Daniil Medvedev and young American Learner Tien.
The pair met in three memorable matches last year, including in the second round here, when 20-year-old Tien burst into the spotlight by beating the former US Open champion.
Tien has now backed up last year's run to the fourth round after a 7-6 (11-9) 6-4, 6-2 victory over Nuno Borges, and said: "I think it's pretty crazy that we end up playing here again a year later. I'm looking forward to it.
"We've played three times. All of them have been wars. I think we both make a lot of balls. We both don't give up too many free points. I think naturally that makes the rallies very long, games very long."
Medvedev only won one match at the Grand Slams last year but he has already exceeded that tally in 2026 and he fought back from two sets down to defeat Fabian Marozsan 6-7 (5) 4-6 7-5 6-0 6-3.
He said of facing Tien again: "During the match they showed the scores. Usually I don't look on TVs or something. This time, I glimpsed. This moment, they were, like, 'Tien, three sets'. I thought, 'OK'. And I was two sets to love down.
"'If I win this one, it's going to be five sets. It's going to be very tough, and then I have Learner. But it's OK'. The thing is that I kind of don't like to play him, but he must hate to play me as well.
"I'm going to try to enjoy the game of tennis. Of course, try to do my best to maybe surprise him somewhere."
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