Ajla Tomljanovic has continued her poor start to 2022, knocked out of the Qatar Open at the first hurdle, defeated by Daria Kasatkina.
She is currently at a career-high 38, but has now won twice in the main draw in five tournaments.
The Australian fought hard, but lost a gruelling two-hour 26-minute encounter 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-2.
The second set took more than an hour, but her Russian opponent wrapped up the decisive third set in 34 minutes.
Kasatkina is ranked ten places higher than at No.28 in the world, so was expected to win, but Tomljanovic's defeat followed first-round exits in Dubai last week and the Australian Open.
Prior to that the Australian No.2 had gone out in the second round in Adelaide and Sydney.
Elsewhere in the tournament No.10 seed Elina Svitolina lost to Tereza Martincova, No.11 seed Elina Rybakina suffered a loss to Jaqueline Christian and former grand slam champions Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep were beaten by Jil Teichman and Caroline Garcia respectively.
There were no such problems for Garbine Mugruza who eased into the last 16 with a straight sets win over Sorana Cirstea.
