British number three James Ward suffered a hard-fought defeat as he was knocked out of the Claro Open in Bogota by Michael Berrer in the first round on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old lost out to Gilles Simon in Britain's Davis Cup opener last week - thought Britain eventually went on to beat France - but he failed to bounce back at the first time of asking here after Berrer claimed a first-set advantage.
Ward struck back to take the second with 10 aces, winning 80 per cent of break points before he lost the third as he fell to a 6-4 6-7 (7/9) 7-5 loss in just under two hours against his German opponent, who goes on to play Brazilian qualifier Marcelo Demoliner in round two.
Ward then teamed up with Colin Fleming in the men's doubles but the British pair retired while trailing 5-4 in the first set against Australian duo Sam Groth and Chris Guccione.
Jonathan Marray also fell at the first hurdle when he and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi were beaten 4-6 6-3 10-5 by Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.
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