Norrie suffers another early exit in Eastbourne

Cameron Norrie's disappointing season continued as he suffered a first-round exit at Eastbourne with a straight-set defeat by Emil Ruusuvuori.

Norrie, who was replaced as British number one by Jack Draper last week, lost 7-6 (11-9) 6-3 to the Finnish world number 88.

The 28-year-old has had a below-par 2024, winning just 14 of his 27 matches and slipping to 44th in the world rankings.

He will not be seeded at this year's Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.

Aiming to better his first-round exit at Queen's last week, Norrie got off to a steady start but could not make the most of two break points at 3-2 up.

Ruusuvuori was able to cling on to force a tie-break and it was the Finn who, after trailing 5-3 and saving two set points, came out on top to take the opener.

Norrie was again left to rue missed chances early in the second set and Ruusuvuori stepped up his intensity to claim the crucial break and lead 5-3.

Despite having a partisan British crowd behind him, Norrie was unable to fight back, missing two break points before his opponent closed out the win to end a five-match losing streak.

Ruusuvuori will play Chinese qualifier Shang Juncheng, who inflicted a surprise 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-4) defeat on seventh seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina on Monday.