Heartbreak was etched all over the faces of Britain's female doubles hopefuls as they crumbled under the pressure at Wimbledon. A dismal day for home interest saw every single women's pairing featuring British players crash out in the first round – a bleak outlook that leaves fans fearing the worst for our team's chances.
Katie Boulter and Heather Watson, two of Britain's brightest stars, were among the high-profile casualties. Despite conjuring up a thrilling 22-point second-set tie-break victory to save four match points, they ultimately fell short in a nail-biting 6-4, 6-7 (12-10), 6-3 loss to the Polish-Czech duo of Katarzyna Piter and Anna Siskova.
The disappointment didn't stop there. Olivia Nicholls and her Slovakian partner Tereza Mihalikova – seeded a respectable 12th – were blown away by Czech opponents Miriam Skoch and Jesika Maleckova, going down 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). Meanwhile, Jodie Burrage and Mika Stojsavljevic suffered a straight-sets drubbing at the hands of the 10th seeds, Kristina Mladenovic of France and China's Hanyu Guo.
Even Britain's brightest young talent couldn't escape the carnage. Teenager Mimi Xu and Alicia Dudeney were sent packing by former French Open champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and China's Wang Xinyu, who took a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden fared no better, falling 6-3, 6-4 to Aldila Sutjiadi and Janice Tjen of Indonesia. And Madeleine Brooks and Amelia Rajecki were defeated 6-4, 6-2 by the seventh seeds, Germany's Laura Siegemund and Russian Vera Zvonareva.
But amidst all the gloom, there was a glimmer of hope for British fans in the men's doubles competition. Defending champions Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, top seeds Henry Patten and Finnish partner Harri Heliovaara, and fifth seeds Neal Skupski and American Christian Harrison are all through to the second round – along with Marcus Willis and David Stevenson.
The sheer scale of British women's doubles disappointment has thrown a spotlight on our remaining hopes in the men's competition. With Arthur Fery still going strong in the singles draw, it's all eyes on these last remaining British heroes as they battle for glory at Wimbledon.