New Zealand No 1 tennis player Michael Venus has made a first round exit from the Heineken Open after losing in three sets to Spaniard Tommy Robredo.
Venus gave the Auckland crowd a sniff of an upset when he went to 4-1 in the first set before allowing the Spanish former top five player to force a tie-break on Monday.
Robredo went to a 5-1 lead but Venus regained his composure to take the tiebreak 7-5.
However, the Spaniard broke serve in the fourth game of the second set and went on to win it 6-3, before demolishing Venus 6-0 in the third.
Others to progress include Americans Michael Russell and Bobby Reynolds and Columbia's Santiago Giraldo.
In the doubles, New Zealander Marcus Daniell and new partner Artem Sitak lost 6-4 6-4 to the Frantisek Cermak, of the Czech Republic, and Germany's Christopher Kas.
