Marcus Willis has lost out to Radu Albot in the first qualifying round for the Erst Bank Open.
The British number 12 was making his first appearance since coming through six qualifying matches to reach the main draw at Wimbledon, and there were signs that he had benefited from the break as he competed well with the world number 103.
However, despite levelling the match at one set apiece after outlasting his opponent in a tie-break which ended 11-9, he was unable to build on his momentum and after reaching 4-5, he dropped serve for a second time in the decider to lose out 6-3 6-7 6-4.
Willis - who now sits at 498 in the world rankings - will now feature in the Tie Break Tens tournament alongside the likes of Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
