(Cincinnati) Defending champion Coco Gauff was eliminated from the Cincinnati Open on Thursday.
The 20-year-old American lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
Last year, Gauff became the youngest champion in history in Cincinnati.
She then won the US Open a few weeks later.
This time, the second seed blew a 4-2 lead in the third set and lost for the first time in her four career encounters to Putintseva.
Putintseva, who knocked out world number one Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, will face Spain’s Paula Badosa in the third round.
American Taylor Townsend continued her winning ways by beating ninth seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.
In the next round, she will face the winner of the duel between Jessica Pegula and Karolina Muchova.
In men, the 12e Top seed Ben Shelton beat Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7), 6-3.
American Brandon Nakashima defeated Frenchman Arthur Fils 7-5, 7-6 (3) and will face sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the next round.
Fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz also reached the next round, but eighth and ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas lost.
Dimitrov was defeated by Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 while Tsitsipas fell to Britain’s Jack Draper 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.