Ash Barty has become the latest high-profile casualty at the WTA’s Charleston Open, going out in the quarter-finals to the unseeded Paula Badosa.
World No.1 Barty dropped her serve five times in the 6-4 6-3 defeat.
The Australian was the last remaining of the top eight seeds at the opening clay-court event on the WTA calendar this year.
Coming off her tournament win on the hardcourts of the Miami Open, Barty admitted earlier this week it was a quick turnaround to change surfaces.
And it proved to be too tough an ask on the green clay in South Carolina against world No.71 Badosa, who secured the biggest win of her career to advance to the last four.
With the score at 3-3 in the second set, Badosa broke Barty’s serve twice including in the final game of the match.
“I’m still a little bit shocked. I can’t believe what just happened,” Badosa said.
“When the ball went out, I was like ‘What just happened right now?'”
Earlier in the day, Ons Jabeur snapped a five-match losing streak in WTA quarter-finals to defeat Coco Gauff for the first time.
The 12th-seeded Tunisian eased past the teenage American 6-3 6-3 to be the highest ranked player in the final four.
Jabeur will play unseeded Montenegrin Danka Kovinic, who reached her first WTA semi-final in five years, with a comeback win over Yulia Putintseva.
The near three-hour battle went the way of Kovinic 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 6-1.
“I really think this clay suits me well,” she said.
“I just feel really, really good here.”