HARRIET DART became the seventh and last British tennis star to exit the Australian Open singles draw after a terrible few days for the nations hopes Down Under.
This is the second consecutive year that there is no British singles representation in the third round of the first Slam of the season.
Britain had at least one player in the third round in Melbourne between 2009 and 2018.
Dart, 23, was out-classed by the reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep 6-2 6-4 on the Rod Laver Arena but deserves praise for the way she battled and some of her winners.
In her previous two matches against the worlds leading stars on a major court Maria Sharapova in Australia and Ash Barty at Wimbledon she had been walloped, winning just two games.
But this time she managed to hold her own and gain a large measure of respect in the glare of prime-time TV cameras.
To her credit, there were glimpses of excellent shot-making against Halep but the Romanian had far too much power, experience and court guile to book her spot in the third round.
The 67,000 in prize money will help to soothe any pain Dart might be feeling after this loss.
A few hours earlier Heather Watson was hit for six close to the Melbourne Cricket Ground as she was battered 6-3 6-0 by Elise Mertens in less than an hour.
It was a pathetic effort as the British No.2 was set packing after losing the last eight games in a row.
On Tuesday, four crestfallen Brits were bundled out of the exit door within the space of 11 hours.
First up was Jo Konta, who came here undercooked with one just match under her belt since the US Open.
And the 28-year-old had no answers or match sharpness in the 6-4 6-2 loss to tricky Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
Kyle Edmund suffered verbal abuse from fans as he lost 7-6 6-3 7-6 to Serbian Dusan Lajovic on Court 15.
This was despite being 5-2 up in the first set overnight after the clash had been delayed by a severe rainstorm on day one.
Underdogs Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie also lost their first-round encounters.
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Boulter was a gallant 6-4 7-5 loser against fifth seed Elina Svitolina, showing signs of form and improvement despite a recent nasty back injury.
Norrie went 2-1 sets up against Pierre-Hugues Herbert but ended up losing 7-5 3-6 3-6 7-5 6-4 in three hours 42 minutes to the French doubles specialist.
On Wednesday, British No.1 male player Dan Evans blew the chance to play Novak Djokovic as he was beaten 6-4 6-3 6-4 to lowly-ranked Yoshihito Nishioka in the second round.
