Aleksandar Vukic has become the latest casualty as Australia's tennis men attempted to play catch-up at Wimbledon.
Vukic, who had won his opening match on the first day, went down 6-3 6-1 6-4 to big-serving Frenchman Quentin Halys in their second-round clash on Thursday as the grass-court grand slam aimed to get back on track after two days of rain delays.
The Sydneysider was the first of four Australian men in Thursday action, with Alex de Minaur, Jason Kubler and Chris O'Connell all still to complete their first-round matches later, four days into the Championships.
World No.87 Vukic, watched by his parents who had flown over from Sydney, was hoping to follow up his outstanding first-round win over German Daniel Altmaier with a triumph that would take him into the third round of a grand slam for the first time.
But with Max Purcell, Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson having already departed, Halys ensured there would be no early revival for the Australian men as he pounded down 14 aces and dominated proceedings from the start.
"I wasn't as sharp as I usually am and never really felt like I got into it - and he doesn't allow you to get into it with the way he plays," a disappointed Vukic told AAP.
The Frenchman, who'd already knocked out British hope Dan Evans in the first round, met some resistance in the third set but, locked at 4-4 and break point down, Vukic threw in an ambitious drop shot that floated wide.
Halys then served out to love to seal victory, having cracked 36 winners over the 90 minutes of fairly one-sided action.
But Vukic, though disappointed that he couldn't set up a third-round date with young Italian flyer Jannik Sinner, was still buoyed by having reached the second round of an overseas grand slam for the first time.
"Yes, a lot of it is positive, you keep keep learning," he said. "I think overall it was very good experience for me, yeah, a positive week for sure."
