Australia is without a woman in the main singles draw after Storm Hunter went down valiantly to ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova in the Australian Open third round on Friday night.
A raucous crowd at Rod Laver Arena couldn't help Hunter over the line with Krejcikova prevailing 4-6 7-5 6-3 across two hours, 30 minutes.
Hunter had her chances against the French Open 2021 champion, winning the first set and having break point chances at 4-4 and 5-5, but the Czech player was too strong in the big points.
In a break-fest with five breaks throughout the first set, it was Hunter who poked her nose in front with the Rod Laver Arena crowd behind her.
The crucial break came to Hunter the seventh game of the first set to go 4-3 up, before the Australian held serve twice to secure the advantage.
It wasn't the first time Hunter has taken a set off a high-ranked player at Melbourne Park, when she stunned second seed Aryna Sabalenka in the first round of 2022 before going down in three sets.
Games were on serve comfortably until the ninth game of the set when Hunter had two break points to go 5-4 up and serve for the match.
But Krejcikova held firm to retain her serve despite the overwhelming crowd support at the Australian Open's centre court.
After holding her own serve, Hunter then created another two break points on the Krejcikova serve at 5-5, but the Czech star managed to save both of them, force deuce and then crucially hold her serve.
Krejcikova showed her class by withstanding the pressure from Hunter, before taking her chance to break the Australian and win the second set 7-5.
It sadly seemed inevitable that the Roland Garros winner would stamp her authority on the match after the scare in the second set.
Krejcikova secured the early break and powered away to reach the fourth round, where she will meet 16-year-old sensation Mirra Andreeva.
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