American Sloane Stephens put a dent in Laura Robson’s Australian Open preprations, beating her 6-4 7-6(4) in the Hobart International first round.
The eighth seed Stephens had enjoyed a run to the quarter-finals in Brisbane the previous week, only beaten by eventual champion Serena Williams.
And she proved too strong for Robson, ranked 15 places below her at 53 in the world, holding off the Brit in two tight sets.
In the other game of the day in Tasmania Olga Govortsova stunned fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro with a comprehensive 6-2 6-1 win.
