The U.S. Stars and Stripes fluttered feebly for Jessica Pegula at Wimbledon on Thursday as the fifth seed was ousted in the second round by China's Wang Xinyu 6-4 6-7(9) 6-1 on American Independence Day.
The Chinese player blasted 38 winners which, combined with 33 unforced errors from Pegula, secured victory and a third round match-up against Harriet Dart who beat fellow Briton Katie Boulter in a tense three-set thriller.
For Wang, world number 42, the victory was her first over a top 10 player.
"Couple of days ago I was asking my coach when will this happen," Wang said. "Jessica was really tough to play on grass. Her ball was super low and I'm just really happy I won in the end."
For Pegula the loss was an ignominious crash back to earth on the back of some great form heading into the grass court Grand Slam.