Australia's last remaining singles player Chris Guccione was bundled out of the US Open by talented Czech Radek Stepanek today.
Guccione put up quite a battle against the World No.30 before losing their second round match 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2.
"It would have been nice to have got past him and played Roger Federer in the third round but it wasn't to be," said Guccione.
"As opposed to twelve months ago I feel like I'm a much better player with my results and hopefully I can keep going in the right direction.
"It's all a step forward. I won one match here, which was good, but I was disappointed to lose today."
The 23-year-old Melburnian dropped the first set after 32 minutes against the accomplished Stepanek, whose burning returns tore into Guccione's famed left-handed serve early in the match.
Stepanek served with power and authority and nullified Guccione's attacking style by rushing the net and made Guccione feel every one of the 57 places which separate the two men in the rankings.
Guccione could not muster even a single break-point on the Stepanek serve in two hours and 24 minutes of tennis against the Czech.
After going two sets down, Guccione fought to stay in the match and managed to give himself some hope by winning the third set tiebreaker despite being a mini-break down.
After more than an hour off court with a rain delay, the players picked up where they left off in the fourth set with neither man giving an inch on serve until Guccione buckled at 2-3 down and surrendered his serve with a missed forehand volley.
When Stepanek broke again two games later, Guccione's US Open was over.
"It was quite a tight match and I had a few small opportunities in the first couple of sets but couldn't quite take them," Guccione said.
" He played too good in the fourth set. It was close. He won the crucial points and played too good at certain stages.
"The rain made it tough but it was the same for both of us."
Guccione was Australia's sole representative left in the men's singles at Flushing Meadows after Robert Smeets lost in the first round.
Lleyton Hewitt was forced to miss the tournament with a hip injury, which will also keep him out of Australia's Davis Cup promotion play-off against Chile in Antofagasta next month.
Instead, Guccione is likely to be the linchpin in captain John Fitzgerald's team and said he was looking forward to the challenge of taking on the Chileans.
"I'm looking forward to Davis Cup now," said Guccione.
"It's going to be a good challenge for us."
