Brittle Brits leave Andy Murray to go it alone at west London's Queen's Club

If only Sebastien Grosjean had gone lame when he was facing a British player other than Andy Murray, against whom he retired yesterday at 2-0 down.

At least the home singles representation at the Artois Championships beyond the second day would then have made the plural - it seemed a waste of a good default.

As it is, Murray is in the depressingly familiar position, one he is so used to in much further flung locations than west London's Queen's Club, of being the lone British figure amid the united nations of successful tennis players.

The 21-year- old Scot was detained for just 22 points as the Frenchman, who reached Wimbledon's semi-finals in 2003 and 2004 and the final at Queen's in the same years, threw in the towel due to a torn thigh muscle.

Eat my shorts: Murray shows off his Simpsons underpants

Murray will now face either Italy's Andreas Seppi or the hugely-promising Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis in the third round and will operate in splendid isolation.

By barely mid-afternoon hopes that there might be some Brit with the pluck to register a main draw win had been carried away on the summer breeze of a glorious afternoon.

The five defeats to home players came in different shapes and sizes. James Ward and Richard Bloomfield, who caused Chile's world No 15 Fernando Gonzalez problems yesterday before losing 7-6, 6-3, have nothing to reproach themselves for after working hard to come through the qualifying event.

The improving Josh Goodall did not embarrass himself against Lleyton Hewitt but the straightsets losses of Alex Bogdanovic on Monday and 18-year-old wildcard Daniel Evans were pretty dispiriting.

Bogdanovic appears weighed down by the prestige of having the renowned Brad Gilbert as coach, even if the arrangement does not, as expected, have much further to run.

Nightmare: Young Brit Daniel Evans was easily beaten by Xavier Malisse

As for Evans, if it is possible for a teenager ranked 988 making his debut on the main tour to perform below absolutely minimal expectations, then this was probably it.

Arguably the most talented of his age group, he lost 6-1, 6-1 to fellow wildcard Xavier Malisse and will have had tournament organisers wondering why on earth they had given him a wildcard.

Not only was he out of his depth, he crowned a 49-minute defeat by picking up a code violation for smacking a ball into the stands after losing serve in the second set, an act of petulance accompanied by hurling his racket down and spitting on the court.

He has already needed a stiff talking-to about his attitude from his minders at the LTA this year and if the LTA want to focus his mind they should dock the £2,734 he earned for losing in the first round here from the next handouts they give him.

Don't bet on it, but then overgenerosity is what happens when there is such a small pool of players with much ability coming through - they get given wildcards into tournaments of stature when they clearly do not deserve them.

Despite yesterday, Evans does have a certain flair about him but the worry is that he will develop the same sense of entitlement that has done others before him no good whatsoever.

Bogdanovic, for example, will have had a wildcard into Wimbledon's singles event for seven straight years after the latest award and he is yet to win a round.

As Murray said drily of British fortunes yesterday: 'We could do with a few more wins, that's for sure.'

About the only thing of note about the Scot yesterday was that he had dispensed with wearing a cap, which is the result of his snappy new haircut. 'I always used to have pretty big hair,' he remarked before heading back to the practice court and gym.

With Gonzalez bemused by the grass, Bloomfield tried to take advantage yesterday and make good the 397-place ranking deficit that lies between them.

After mixing some big serves with double faults, he forced a tie-break, which he lost 7-5. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic play their second rounds today.