The will was there but in the end, Jamie Baker's hopes of reaching the main draw at Wimbledon were ended yesterday by the experienced Russian Igor Kunitsyn in the second round of qualifying at Roehampton in west London.
Baker took the first set and continued to battle manfully but eventually went down 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to an opponent who has been ranked inside the world's top 40.
With Alex Bogdanovic and David Rice also losing yesterday, Britain will have just three men – Andy Murray, James Ward and Kyle Edmund – in Friday's singles draw.
Naomi Broady and Jade Windley reached round two of the qualifying event but Lisa Wybourn, Mel South, Anna Smith, Emily Webley-Smith and Amanda Carreras all went out.
There was better news at Eastbourne as Scotland's Elena Baltacha and the English teenager Laura Robson joined Heather Watson in the second round of the Aegon International.
Baltacha, the former British No.1, has dropped down the rankings after taking eight months out to have ankle surgery following last year's Olympics but she followed up her title win in Nottingham last weekend with a fine 7-5, 7-6 victory over the Czech Kristyna Pliskova.
The 29-year-old said: "I'm playing well. Last week gave me a lot of confidence to know I can put my body through five days of matches. It was an amazing week for me. This is my favourite tournament. I love playing here, every year."
Robson cruised past Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine to set up a match with Caroline Wozniacki, a repeat of their French Open first-round meeting last month, which the Dane won.
But Johanna Konta and Ward were both beaten. Konta was outplayed 6-4, 6-3 by Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei while Ward lost 6-3, 6-4 to Australia's Bernard Tomic.
"There are still so many things I can improve on but I served really well today," said Robson, who recorded her first win under her new coach Miles Maclagan.
Wozniacki was watched yesterday by boyfriend Rory McIlroy, who had made his way straight to Eastbourne following the US Open at Merion. He watched the fifth seed record just her second win in eight matches, albeit by virtue of a retirement, with the defending champion Tamira Paszek succumbing to a leg injury as she trailed 6-2 2-2.
Paszek beat Wozniacki in the opening round at Wimbledon last year before going on to reach the quarter-finals but has had a miserable 2013, winning just two matches.
There were straightforward wins for second seed Li Na, third seed Angelique Kerber, former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur. The only hold-up for Li in her 6-2, 6-4 win over Alize Cornet came when a spectator fell ill and received lengthy treatment in the stands.
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