Carlos Alcaraz set to meet Dan Evans at Shanghai Masters

The British number one had hoped for a turnaround in form during the Asian swing but, having received a first-round bye, he was beaten 6-3 5-7 7-6(4) by American JJ Wolf.

Norrie had been a break up in the deciding set when rain halted the match on Saturday but he was unable to serve it out when it resumed before losing out in a tie-break.

It was Norrie's third loss in a row and his 10th from 13 matches dating back to a second-round exit at Wimbledon.

There was better news for 30th seed Evans, who was leading Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2 3-0 when the veteran Kazakh retired through injury.

He will now get another shot at top seed Alcaraz. The young Spaniard has won all their previous three meetings but Evans took a set off him in the third round of the US Open last month.

"I had just one practice here in Shanghai and then the match," Alcaraz told atptour.com.

"I think he was more used to these conditions. He had more practice, a match in the bag, so it was really difficult to adapt my game in a new city, new conditions, but I think I did pretty well.

"I played really focused, I tried to take lessons from the last match in Beijing and tried to be a better player. I tried to not make the mistakes I did in Beijing and I think today I did pretty well."

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