Emma Raducanu's struggles continued as she suffered a fourth straight loss for the first time in her career.
Raducanu began her season with victory over Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the Australian Open but could not repeat the feat at the Qatar Open in Doha.
A 6-3 7-5 loss to Alexandrova followed first-round defeats by Marketa Vondrousova in Abu Dhabi and Cristina Bucsa in Singapore as well as a third-round defeat by Iga Swiatek in Melbourne.
The 22-year-old, who again needed a wild card to secure entry to the tournament, has not tasted victory since coach Nick Cavaday stepped down from his position for health reasons following the Australian Open.
Raducanu's mentor Jane O'Donoghue flew out to Doha to offer support but could not help the former US Open champion engineer a change in fortunes.
Alexandrova bounced back from her defeat against Raducanu by winning a WTA Tour title in Linz and the difference in confidence levels between the pair became apparent.
Like against Vondrousova earlier this week, Raducanu got off to a strong start, moving into a 3-1 lead, and had she taken any of three chances for a second break of serve things might have turned out differently.
But Alexandrova began to really find her range on her big groundstrokes and by the time Raducanu won another game she was already a break down in the second set.
She took advantage of a dip from her opponent to again lead 3-1 but once more could not cement her advantage and Alexandrova claimed the crucial break at 5-5.
Raducanu had never previously lost more than three matches in a row in her professional career and, while she has insisted she is in no rush to find a replacement for Cavaday, this is clearly a difficult period for her.
PA
