Dan Evans has suffered a straight-sets defeat to Robin Haase in the opening round of the Madrid Masters.
The British number four had been hoping to build on some positive results on the clay, but he put in a below-par display to lose out 7-5 6-2 to the Dutchman.
Haase struck in Evans's first service game and although the Birmingham-based player hit back as his opponent served for the first set, he immediately dropped serve for a second time.
Evans soon went 4-1 behind in the second and although he saved three match points, he was unable to get back into the set and Haase was able to run out the victor in just over 80 minutes.
The next event on the calendar is the Italian Open, which takes place before the start of Roland Garros where Evans will be making his debut.
Darren Plant
