Johanna Konta’s hopes of making the second week of the Australian Open were ended as she was knocked out in the second round.
The British number one was beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Bernarda Pera and saw her dreams of going deep into the tournament ended in the first week.
Konta has made the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Australian Open in the last two years – but any hopes of going one stage further were dashed by the world number 123.
"It's a bit frustrating but I'm still taking good stuff from this," Konta said. "I don't feel, by any means, it's a massive catastrophe."
"I play every event to be there until the end, so I definitely don't want to be going home this early."
The ninth seed made it to the semi-finals of Wimbledon last summer but has won just three of 11 matches since then.
In hot and windy conditions in Melbourne, the match could have been over sooner but Konta saved four match points – but on the fifth the ball hit the frame of her racket and that gave the Croatia-born American the biggest win of her career.
Konta struggled with her serve throughout the match and failed to hit a single ace, with the speed of her serve down on her previous match.
Konta added: "I think my serve definitely let me down a little bit today.
"I do think I was a little uncoordinated today.
"I don't think I've fallen over on my own two feet since I was going through growth spurts."
Kyle Edmund is the only British player left in either singles draw and he faces Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili on Friday. But there is still British representation in the men's doubles as Dom Inglot joined Jamie Murray in the second round. The Brit - playing with Marcus Daniell - beat fellow Brit Neal Skupski and his Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin 6-4 2-6 6-3. Skupski's older brother Ken also exited at the first round stage, with the Liverpudlian and his American partner James Cerretani going down 7-6(8) 7-5 to Joao Sousa and Leonardo Mayer. The final Brit in action on day four was Heather Watson, with the Guernsey star - playing alongside France's Alize Cornet - losing 2-6 7-5 4-6 to Alicja Rosolka and Abigail Spears. Sportsbeat 2018