Britain’s Emma Raducanu was overpowered by sixth seed Amanda Anisimova at Indian Wells, losing 6-1 6-1 in a third-round encounter lasting only 52 minutes.
In an ominous sign of the struggle to come, Raducanu was broken in the opening game.
It quickly became apparent the 25th seed had no answer to the American’s determined approach, and the first set ran away from her with just 11 points won.
The second immediately took on a similar pattern with Raducanu finding herself three games behind before managing to hold her serve.
Having enlisted Mark Petchey as a temporary coach after parting with Francisco Roig in January, Raducanu last week said she had been hoping to rediscover her “natural way of playing” in an attempt to build towards the form that saw her claim the 2021 US Open.
But there was to be no reprieve, as Anisimova impressively took a further three games to progress.
The performance marked a stark contrast to Raducanu’s second-round match, a comprehensive 6-1 6-3 victory over Russian Anastasia Zakharova.
Speaking on court afterwards, Anisimova said she had been “just trying to go out there and have fun” and “be fearless”.