Maya Joint eliminated from Canadian Open by American McCartney Kessler
The 19-year-old Aussie came flying out of the blocks in Montreal on Wednesday, local time, taking the first set, before the American bounced back strongly to claim the next two for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Little separated the players throughout the match, which threw up 14 break points for each. Joint converted three of those chances, while her American opponent managed four breaks.
Joint had been hoping to back up her first-round upset of local favourite Leylah Fernandez, the world No.24 who was fresh off claiming the biggest title of her career on Sunday, the Washington Open.
Despite the loss, Joint has shown she is finding top form ahead of the year's final major, the US Open, which kicks off in New York on August 24.
Joint is already a two-time WTA title winner this year and will be looking to start making a real impact at grand slam level.
She reached the second round at Flushing Meadows in 2024, but is yet to progress past the first round of the other majors.
Australia's only remaining competitor in the women's singles, 15th-seeded Daria Kasatkina, plays her third-round match against 24th seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine on Thursday.
In other second-round results on Wednesday, six-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek was all business in a 6-3, 6-1 demolition of China's Guo Hanyu.
The Polish superstar, seeded second in Montreal, is hot off her record-breaking win in the Wimbledon singles final, where she served up two "donuts" to American Amanda Anisimova.
"I think I played a really solid match today," Swiatek said.
"Playing the first match on hard court after a pretty long break from the surface is always tricky, so I'm happy that I just focused on myself, adjusted to the conditions and played well."
American third seed and two-time defending champion Jessica Pegula remained on track for a title hat-trick by beating Maria Sakkari of Greece 7-5, 6-4.
Four-time major champ Naomi Osaka of Japan upset 13th-seeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 to continue her impressive return to tennis after taking a maternity break.
Sixth-seeded American Madison Keys was dominant over Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-1.
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