Richard Bloomfield managed just a single win in his first two Futures tournaments of 2012 which took place in Germany and Sheffield.

The Norfolk number one began with a first round exit from the $10,000 event in Schwieberdingen to Michal Schmid of the Czech Republic, 7-6, 7-5.

Schmid, ranked nine places higher than Bloomfield at 473 in the world, adjusted better to the unusual carpet surface than the British man and mustered the only break of serve in the second set.

The 28-year-old from Alpington credited his opponent afterwards:

'It's tough on the carpet to make any impression on the guy's serve but he took his chances better than I did and that took him through.'

Schmid capitalised on a friendly draw to pick up two more wins and reach the semi-final before losing to eventual runner-up and top seed, Bastian Knittel of Germany.

Britain's Josh Goodall took the title with a hard-fought three set victory over Knittel; 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.

In Sheffield, Bloomfield made a brighter start after beating youngster Lewis Burton 6-4, 7-6 at the Graves Centre but couldn't progress beyond round two, losing comfortably to British number seven Alex Ward in straight sets.

A 6-3, 6-2 scoreline against the world number 347 was disappointing, especially as Ward was beaten in the next round by Belgian Germain Gigounon.

As with the week before in Germany, there was British success as Warwickshire's Dan Evans claimed the tournament victory beating compatriot David Rice from Hertfordshire in the final.

Evans, the British number five, looked comfortable as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 win over unseeded Rice.

Bloomfield will do battle on Merseyside this week at the Wirral Tennis & Leisure Centre in the latest domestic Futures tournament. The event is a $15k and the winner will pick up 35 ATP ranking points. Bloomfield is currently ranked 484 in the world and British number 12 with 68 points.