Only the rain saved British no. 1 Kyle Edmund – already a set down against top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and hanging on with serve at 3-3 and 30-30 in the second.
James Ward and Cameron Norrie had long headed for the exit on Monday, even before Tuesday’s washout.
But after Dan Evans’ hopes of carrying his grass court form into the Fever-Tree Championships hit the juggernaut that is Stan Wawrinka – and wild-card Jay Clarke lost 7-6, 6-1 to Lucas Pouille of France – Edmund is the last man standing, albeit hanging on by a thread.
Tsitsipas, the 20-year-old Australian Open semi-finalist, seemed to exude energy as he dashed around the grass like a man on a mission. If he continues that when play resumes today, the omens are poor going into Wimbledon.
Up till now, the grass court season hand been encouraging for the British men. Evans came into the Fever-Tree Championship on the back of wins in the challengers at Surbiton and Nottingham.
But against a three-time grand slam champion like Wawrinka, it was quickly apparent this was a very different level.
Lengthy rain delay aside – play was abandoned for around three-and-a-half hours – it took 34-year-old Wawrinka just 1 hr 12 min to see off his 63rd-ranked opponent 6-3, 6-4.
The Swiss rattled off 12 of the first 14 points of the match, with Evans double-faulting on the way to being broken in his first service game.
Even so, unexpected slip-ups were proving the order of the day, with both players ending up unceremoniously on their backsides before the rain came as conditions became increasingly slippery.
Resuming on 5-3 to Wawrinka, the world no. 19 wrapped up the opening set with a brilliant running lob.
And while Evans scuffled and harried his way through the second set as best he could, Wawrinka, who has never been beyond the quarter-final at Wimbledon, produced some outstanding grass-court tennis.
The Swiss broke Evans early on and though the world no. 63 fought on with some swashbuckling ground-strokes right to the end, Wawrinka, chuntering to himself under his breath all the way, could not be shaken from his course.
One last thunderous backhand was too much for Evans but underlined the quality that is missing from the home challenge with Andy Murray involved only in today’s doubles.