Darkness has fallen on Australia’s brightest start at Wimbledon in 15 years after the nation’s entire third-day contingent was wiped out.
Bernard Tomic and Marinko Matosevic were among the casualties as all five Australians involved in second-round matches on Wednesday failed to progress.
Casey Dellacqua, Jarmila Gajdosova and qualifier Luke Saville also exited the tournament.
Seven Australians had reached the round two for the first time since 1999 but veteran Lleyton Hewitt and rising star Nick Kyrgios, who play second round matches on Thursday, are now the last men standing.
After Matosevic lost a five-set epic to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, and Dellacqua and Saville were dispatched by seeded opponents on Centre Court, Tomic emerged as a potential saviour.
He took the first set against Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych before going down 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 in two-and-a-half hours.
In failing to repeat his run to the last 16 a year ago, Tomic will slip out of the world’s top 100 as he continues to battle back from hip surgery in February.
The 21-year-old suffered a painful tweak to his hip during the second set but said Berdych was a deserved winner.
“It’s disappointing but he is a very good player on grass,” Tomic said.
“I tried my best and it’s only my sixth, seventh tournament back.
“I was happy the way I was going and feeling.”
Matosevic had loomed as the most likely Australian to reach the third round against 46th-ranked Chardy, but went down 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (11-9) 4-6 7-5 in a marathon encounter lasting four hours and 15 minutes.
The world No.58 rode a wave of emotions on Court 17 but failed to build on his impressive run of form since finally breaking his grand slam duck at last month’s French Open.
“It was a really bad day at the office, nothing seemed to go right,” said Matosevic, who missed a chance to reach the a grand slam third round for the first time.
Surprise packet Saville’s impressive debut at the grass court grand slam ended at the hands of Bulgarian 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
The 20-year-old was outclassed but far from overawed in a 6-3 6-2 6-4 loss played on the All England Club’s famed Centre Court.
“I didn’t play my best best but I thought I held my own fairly well out there,” Saville said.
A rejuvenated Dellacqua also savoured a chance to play on the world’s most prestigious arena against fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
The 29-year-old Australian, who has fought back from injury woes to reach a career-high ranking of 36, lost 6-4 6-0 in less than an hour.
“I don’t think the (second set) score was a reflection of how I played, to be honest,” Dellacqua said.
“I thought she had to play some good tennis to beat me.”
Wildcard entrant Gajdosova was gallant in defeat in a 6-3 4-6 6-3 loss to Portugal’s’s Michelle Larcher de Brito in a match finishing after 9pm local time.
Hewitt faces 15th-seeded Pole Jerzy Janowicz on Thursday while Kyrgios meets meets French 13th seed Richard Gasquet.
