John Millman’s recent strong run has very much been put to bed after the Australian was thrashed 6-2 6-0 by rising Russian Andrey Rublev at the Shanghai Masters.
Millman had won six matches on the trot, including two in qualifying, to make the final of the Japan Open where he was beaten by world No.1 Novak Djokovic.
He looked to continue that form in China with a confident straight sets win over world No.21 Argentine Guido Pella in the opening round.
But the dangerous Rublev had too much firepower for the tiring Queenslander, finishing their second round encounter off in an hour and five minutes.
The Russian will now play Alexander Zverev.
The German overcame a tough test in a 7-6 (15-13) 7-6 (7-3) victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
The 22-year-old Zverev was 5-3 down in the first tie-break and missed five set points until Chardy wilted with an error at 14-13.
He stumbled in the second set to give Chardy a break at 3-2 but Zverev broke back to enter a second tie-break.
The contest was over when Zverev raced into a 4-1 lead before securing his third round place in 1 hour 48 minutes.
Zverev, who is the defending ATP Finals champion, has still not qualified for the November tour-ending event in London with three of eight places remaining.
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas kept up his chances of qualifying for London with a 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3) hard-fought win over Canadian teen Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, currently ninth in the race rankings, is also in the running after progressing to the third round by defeating Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-3 6-3.
He will face a fellow race contender Roberto Bautista-Agut next after the Spaniard dispatched American Reilly Opelka 6-4,7-5.
Russia’s Karen Khachanov advanced with a 6-2 6-4 win over another American Taylor Fritz, while Fritz’s compatriot John Isner progressed in a 7-5 6-3 win over Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
Isner could face Shanghai defending champion Djokovic in round three, if the Serbian beats Canada’s Denis Shapovalov later Wednesday.