Norrie knocked out of Australian Open

Cameron Norrie

British men’s number one Cameron Norrie is out of the Australian Open after losing to rising star Jiri Lehecka. Norrie, seeded 11th, had been aiming to knock off another notable career milestone by reaching the last 16 at Melbourne Park for the first time.

He led by two sets to one before Czech Lehecka fought back to win 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 3-6 6-1 6-4 in the third round.

The 27-year-old left-hander was far from his best and needed treatment on his left knee early in the decider.

“I can’t really put my finger on why I wasn’t at my best, he played better than me and better in the bigger moments,” said Norrie.

“The knee did not affect the outcome of the match – it was a small niggle and I wanted to check it was nothing serious.”

Lehecka will play Canadian sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round tomorrow. It was a measure of revenge for the 21-year-old after he was beaten by Norrie at the Auckland Open last week.

“I felt that I could beat him,” said Lehecka, who is ranked 71st in the world.

“The only thing I learned from that match [in Auckland] was to never give up and fight for every ball.”

Norrie’s exit means Andy Murray – who won his extraordinary second-round match at 04:05 local time earlier yesterday – and Dan Evans are the only British players remaining in either singles draw.

Evans plays his third round match against Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev on Margaret Court Arena at about 13:00 local time (02:00 GMT) today. Murray takes on Spanish 24th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening match of the night session on the same court at 08:00].

Norrie has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past few seasons after his unprecedented success on the ATP Tour, which included his first career titles and a climb