Philip Sekulic's major breakthrough week in China has ended with the Australian youngster giving world No.18 Lorenzo Musetti a near three-hour battle before bowing out in their last-16 clash at the Chengu Open in China.
The 20-year-old from Subiaco had enjoyed a spectacular week, getting through qualifying before winning the first tour-level match of his career against Portugal's world No.88 Nuno Borges.
Thrown in against a top-20 opponent on Saturday, Sekulic again showed his considerable promise, fighting back from a set down to take Italian Musetti into a final stanza after winning a tight second-set tiebreak.
But the youngster ultimately wilted in the third set, eventually succumbing 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (4-7) 6-0 as tiredness set in and Musetti set up a quarter-final against Arthur Rinderknech, who beat Marcos Giron 7-6 (7-2) 6-4..
Sekulic's exit means there won't be three Australians in the quarter-finals but Chris O'Connell will lead the way in the last-eight against evergreen number three seed Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3 6-4.
Jordan Thompson will also be in the quarters on Sunday, set to face Russia's Wimbledon quarter-finalist Roman Safiullin.
Top seed, Olympic champion Alexander Zverev remains favourite in Chengdu, after rallying to beat Russian qualifier Pavel Kotov 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-1. He'll face Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarter-finals after the Serb beat Corentin Moutet 6-2 6-4.
But the chances of Australia also having a man in the last-eight of the other ATP event going on in China, the Zhuhai Championship, ended when the experienced Marc Polmans found Britain's rejuvenated No.1 Cameron Norrie too good in their last-16 contest, going down 6-0 6-3.
Norrie, who had suffered two defeats in the Davis Cup last week, marched on to next take on the conqueror of his illustrious compatriot Andy Murray, who was defeated 4-6 6-3 6-2 by Russian Aslan Karatsev.
Karatsev moved closer to winning his first tour title since he took the Sydney title last year, beating Murray in the final.
