Delray Beach Open: Dan Evans and Liam Broady fall at first hurdle as Andrey Rublev, Alex De Minaur win in Rotterdam

It was a bad day for the Brits at the Delray Beach Open as Dan Evans and Liam Broady both crashed out in the first round.

Evans, seeded seventh at the ATP 250 event, fell to a disappointing 7-5 6-0 defeat to Australia’s Jordan Thompson.

World No. 42 Thompson edged a tight first set by breaking Evans to love at the opportune moment to go 6-5 ahead before keeping his cool to serve out the set.

The momentum swung completely in Thompson’s favour in the second as he rampaged to a bagel set, landing five aces and hitting nine winners.

The Australian will face wildcard Aleksandar Kovacevic or qualifier Nicolas Moreno de Alboran next for a place in the quarter-finals.

Broady also fell at the first hurdle, losing 2-6 6-1 1-6 to Rinky Hijikata.

The world No. 121 got off to a disastrous start as he lost his opening nine-minute service game to send Hijikata on track to taking the opening set.

Broady fired back in the second, racing into a 3-0 lead before breaking for a second time to square things up and force a decider.

But No. 84-ranked Hijikata fired back in the third with a 6-1 set of his own, winning five consecutive games to clinch a victory that earned him a Round of 16 clash with Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi.

In Rotterdam, Andrey Rublev saw off qualifier Zizou Bergs 7-5 6-3 to set up a second round clash with Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The 2021 champion needed 82 minutes to seal victory against the Belgian.

Fifth seed Alex De Minaur saw off Sebastian Korda in straight sets 6-4 6-3 to reach the last 16.

The world No. 11, fresh off a run to the fourth round at the Australian Open, will face qualifier David Goffin after the experienced Belgian beat wild card Dino Prizmic in three sets.

It was a good day for the Kazakhstani players in the Netherlands, as Alexander Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko progressed with wins over Borna Coric and Zhizhen Zhang respectively.