Australian Open: Seventh hell for Cameron Norrie as Alexander Zverev ends GB's Grand Slam hopes

Great Britain's singles hopes at the Australian Open have been extinguished courtesy of Alexander Zverev's third-round win over Cameron Norrie on Friday.

The 2022 Wimbledon semi-finalist was the last Brit standing in the singles and put in a good shift against third seed Zverev, levelling the match at 1-1 following a narrow first-set reverse.

However, Norrie ran out of steam towards the end as Zverev secured a 7-5 4-6 6-3 6-1 victory to reach the last 16, where the German will take on 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo.

History did not favour Norrie heading into Friday's tie with his more esteemed foe, as he had lost each of his first six top-level meetings with Zverev, most recently at Wimbledon in 2024.

The 30-year-old now trails the German 7-0 in their head-to-head, although his third-round exit in Melbourne was a stark improvement from his first-round elimination at the hands of Matteo Berrettini in 2025.

Norrie also memorably defeated Carlos Alcaraz at last year's Paris Masters before reaching the Moselle Open final during an autumnal resurgence, and wins over Benjamin Bonzi and Emilio Nava Down Under offer further hope for the remainder of 2026.

Australian Open: How did the other Brits perform Down Under?

Norrie was one of just three British men to take part in the men's singles at the 2026 Australian Open following Jack Draper's withdrawal with an arm injury, a short list that also includes Arthur Fery and Jacob Fearnley.

Fery made headlines when he stunned Italian 20th seed Flavio Cobolli in his first-round matchup, but the qualifier was then taken down in three sets by Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second stage.

Meanwhile, Jacob Fearnley was bested in four sets by Poland's Kamil Majchrzak first up, suffering the same fate as no fewer than three of his compatriots in the women's singles competition.

Sonay Kartal was no match for 31st seed Anna Kalinskaya, Katie Boulter was bagelled on her way to an opening loss to Belinda Bencic, and Francesca Jones was forced to retire from her first-round match with qualifier Linda Klimovicova.

British number one Emma Raducanu was the only woman from the nation to advance past the first round, but her campaign also came to a forgettable end in a second-round loss to Anastasia Potapova.