Bernard Tomic’s season of woe has continued with the Australian losing in straight sets in the first round of the Chengdu Open.

Britain’s Kyle Edmund comfortably accounted for Tomic, 6-4 6-2.

Edmund, the sixth seed who hadn’t played since the US Open, needed just the one break point to take the first set and quickly found himself in charge of the second.

The world No.46 snared two breaks and wrapped up the match in 62 minutes.

It was Tomic’s first match since he lost in the US Open first round last month.

That had followed an opening round defeat at Wimbledon, usually his favoured event.

No.17 in the world in 2016, Tomic has suffered a dramatic slump in form and is now ranked at No.146 in the world.

Back in July he admitted feeling bored with the game, said he feigned injury on occasion and conceded that money was his motivating factor in sticking with the sport.

Unless there’s a dramatic turnaround before the Australian Open in January the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist will likely have to go through qualifying rounds to take part.

Other early winners in Chengdu included Denis Istomin and Dusan Lajovic.