Great Britain made the worst possible start to their must-win ATP Cup tie against Belgium as Cameron Norrie lost in straight sets to Steve Darcis.

Britain lost to Bulgaria in their opening tie of the inaugural 24-nation tournament on Saturday, and will be eliminated by another defeat.

World number 53 Norrie was beaten 6-2 6-4 by Darcis, ranked 157th.

Britain need Dan Evans to beat David Goffin to stay in the tie, before Jamie Murray and Joe Salisbury play doubles.

If British number one Evans loses to world number 11 Goffin, then Belgium will have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the best-of-three tie in Sydney, Australia.

The ATP Cup features six groups of four teams, who each play three round-robin ties in an event played across three Australian cities, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. The six group winners, plus the best two runners-up, will progress to the quarter-finals.

If Belgium beat Britain then they will have won both of their opening two ties, as did Bulgaria following their 2-1 win over Moldova in Sunday’s day session in Sydney.

That meant a victory for 24-year-old Norrie against Belgium player-captain Darcis, 35, in the opening match of Sunday’s evening session would have given Tim Henman’s team a strong platform from which to build on in this tie.

However, he was outclassed by an inspired Darcis – who is set to retire after the upcoming Australian Open – and saw his serve broken twice in each set to lose in one hour and 12 minutes.

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