Australian tennis hopes of an encouraging start to the grass-court season have been dashed as both Alexei Popyrin and Kim Birrell got knocked out of the annual pre-Wimbledon tournament at Rosmalen.
The double defeat in the Dutch event on Thursday meant there are no Australians left in the singles at the venue where Alex de Minaur lifted the title in 2024.
With de Minaur taking a rest before competing at Queen's Club next week, most hopes rested on sixth seed Popyrin, who was hoping to rebound swiftly after the disappointment of his fourth-round exit at the French Open at the hands of Tommy Paul.
Up to a career-high ranking of 21 thanks to his run to the fourth round in Paris, Popyrin had looked forward to starting his grass campaign in style after a first-round bye, but found himself edged out in a three-set duel with Zizou Bergs.
The Belgian, named after the French soccer great Zinedine Zidane whose nickname is 'Zizou', outlasted Australia's No.2 Popyrin 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-3) after the Sydneysider had taken the opening set in their last-16 clash.
Popyrin had his moments, including one dazzling angled crosscourt winner that he scooped up after chasing down a Bergs volley, but it wasn't enough to earn the 25-year-old his first quarter-final berth in a grass-court event.
Bergs will next meet qualifier Mark Lajal in the quarter-finals after the Estonian was given a walkover when Poland's Hubert Hurkacz withdrew through injury.
In the women's event, world No.69 Birrell, who had defeated another Chinese Wang Xinyu in the first round, went down to Yuan Yue 6-4 6-3 in the last-16 to end the Australian interest.
Elsewhere in the Dutch event, men's top seed Daniil Medvedev beat former champion Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, while in the women's tournament, third seed Elise Mertens comfortably defeated Maria Sakkari while Bianca Andreescu also advanced.
