After a terrific month on tour for Australian tennis, Sam Stosur has suffered a shocking loss to a teenage qualifier.
Australia's number one was humbled by 16-year-old Naomi Osaka in a WTA event in Stamford, California.
Despite holding a match point in the second set and being a break up in the third, Stosur was conquered in three sets, losing 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 to the Japanese qualifier.
The win was 406th-ranked Osaka's first WTA main draw victory and was Stosur's fourth straight loss on tour.
Stosur was beaten by Yanina Wickmayer (ranked 69), Caroline Wozniacki (16) and countrywoman Casey Dellacqua (43) on the tour's grass-court swing through England.
But neither of those losses compare to her defeat on Tuesday (AEST) on her preferred hard-court surface.
Stosur's lapse is in stark contrast to the efforts of Australia's leading men on tour.
Headlined by Nick Kyrgios' stunning Wimbledon run past Rafael Nadal to the quarter-finals, both Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic have claimed tournament victories in July.
Tomic continued his winning streak against Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez in an ATP event in Washington, beating the 85th ranked player 6-3 6-2.
On a six-match winning streak since winning his second ATP title in Colombia, Tomic said he was high on confidence.
"I really gave it to him in the first few games which made me feel a little bit more confident out there," he said.
"Tennis is a lot (about) confidence and I managed to pick up a lot of confidence in Bogota winning my second title."
Mark Woodforde-coached Marinko Matosevic also won his first-round Washington match over Ukrainian Illya Marchenko 6-4 7-5.
Matosevic will play Hewitt, who had a first-round bye, in the round of 32.
Tomic's next match is against Uzbek Denis Istomin, who Tomic has beaten in all three of their meetings.
Australians James Duckworth, Sam Groth and Olivia Rogowska are also playing in the Washington event, with first-round meetings on Wednesday.
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