Naomi Broady crashed out in the first round of Australian Open qualifying as she lost 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to Alize Lim.
The 25-year-old British No3 beat former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic in Auckland last week but couldn’t maintain the momentum into the first Grand Slam of the year, where she is yet to reach the main draw. Broady, at 112th in the world, is ranked 54 places higher than Lim.
After temperatures of 40C on Wednesday, Broady and Lim had to adjust to a blustery morning in Melbourne and both struggled.
Broady produced 10 double faults in all and one poor service game early on helped give Lim the opening set. The Briton was more aggressive in the second and it paid dividends but the Frenchwoman recovered to take the third set to win in an hour and 53 minutes.