Dan Evans was unable to match his best run at the Australian Open as defeat by ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime ended British interest in the singles.

Evans, 31, lost a tight opener after two sloppy errors at 5-4, handing over the set and the momentum.

Auger-Aliassime also dominated the big points in the second set and cruised through the third to reach the last 16.

Evans is the last of seven Britons to fall in the singles at Melbourne Park, after the earlier exits of Andy Murray, Emma Raducanu, Cameron Norrie, Heather Watson, Harriet Dart and Liam Broady.

Evans received a walkover into the third round after France's Arthur Rinderknech withdrew through injury.

He was aiming to move into the last 16 for the second time in his career after reaching the same stage in 2017.

Auger-Aliassime, who also reached the Melbourne fourth round last year, will face Russian fifth seed Andrey Rublev or Croatia's Marin Cilic in the last 16.

Evans made a fantastic start to the 2022 season, having won all three of his matches at the ATP Cup and reaching the semi-finals in Sydney.

A straight-set win against Belgium's David Goffin at Melbourne Park maintained his run of positive results, but he did not have to hit a ball on the match court to reach the third round after Rinderknech pulled out.

After four days without a match, Evans started well on serve - despite being irritated by loud music from an outside stage drifting over onto court - and created the first break points of the match.

Evans dumped a forehand into the net at 2-2, before a double fault from Auger-Aliassime gave him another opportunity at 4-4.

This time, the Canadian's deep baseline returning and an ace denied Evans taking a crucial lead.

The scoreboard pressure then told on Evans who admitted afterwards he was "nervous" before the match.

At 5-4, a rare foray forward ended with a volley being pushed wide for 30-40 and a forehand drive volley into the net on set point - the first break opportunity of the match for Auger-Aliassime - left Evans trailing.

Evans' despondency at losing the opener in such a manner appeared to carry over into the second set.

A double-fault allowed Auger-Aliassime to break for a 2-0 lead and Evans continued to struggle on first serve.

The Canadian took advantage to go a double-break up at 4-0 and comfortably saw out a set where Evans landed 50% of his first serves.

After Evans held at the start the third set, the one-sided nature of the contest quickly resumed. Auger-Aliassime broke for 2-1 and then dropped just four more points as he cruised to victory.

"It is tough not to feel better, it is one of the best Grand Slam performances I've had," said Auger-Aliassime.

"Everything was working for me today, I'm happy to be through in straight sets."

More to follow.