- Katie Boulter was eliminated by Qinwen Zheng 6-3, 6-3
- British number 1 Boulter saved five match points in the second, but to no avail
- Jack Draper was defeated 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 by American Tommy Paul
Katie Boulter and Jack Draper crashed out of the Australian Open within minutes of each other after a double hammer blow for the British.
British No.1 Boulter, who could have set up an all-British encounter with Emma Raducanu if they were both successful, was defeated 6-3, 6-3 by Chinese opponent Qinwen Zheng.
It seemed that Boulter, who has enjoyed strong support from the Australian public due to her high-profile relationship with Alex de Minaur, could have saved the second set.
She saved five match points, but couldn’t quite earn back the break she needed before being defeated by Zheng after an ace.
Zheng is the 12th seed in the tournament and Boulter, 27, was always against it.
Katie Boulter (left) and Jack Draper were both eliminated from the Australian Open
Boulter says goodbye to the fans who supported her in Australia this week
The British No. 1 faced the tournament’s twelfth seed, which showed her quality
Boulter couldn’t provide the answers, but almost saved the second set
Her defeat leaves Raducanu as the last woman standing for the British, pitted against Wang Yafan.
Meanwhile, Draper was eliminated by American 14th seed Tommy Paul, falling 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
The 22-year-old had struggled physically in his opening match against Marcos Giron, escaping in five sets and then rushing to the box to vomit.
He seemed to have recovered quite well in the match against American Paul, but fell to a 6-2 3-6 6-3 7-5 defeat.
Draper took confidence from having beaten Paul in both previous meetings, including comfortably in Adelaide last week, but the 26-year-old – a semi-finalist here last year – was sharp from the start.
The match was postponed by heavy rain in Melbourne and as the match got underway, Draper was slow to come out of the blocks, dropping serve three times in the opening set.
He hit back well in the second and started to trouble Paul with his power play, but it was the American back on top in the third set.
The conditions certainly didn’t make it easy and Draper seemed hugely frustrated by his inability to time the ball as consistently as he would have liked.
Paul looked to be on his way to victory when he broke serve again to start the fourth set, but Draper fought back well to force two set points as a nervous Paul served at 4–5.
However, he couldn’t hit either, and a missed forehand in the next game gave Paul the opportunity to serve for the match, which he took advantage of.