Lleyton Hewitt is the lone Australian standing at the US Open in New York after Bernard Tomic lost in the second round for the third year in a row.

Tomic led by a set and a service break only to lose 1-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to British qualifier Daniel Evans, blowing a big opportunity to make the second week at Flushing Meadows for the first time.

The 20-year-old former Wimbledon quarter-finalist had been strongly favoured to beat the world No.179 progress to the last 32, but instead his second-round jinx continues.

Tomic’s defeat comes a year after tennis great John McEnroe accused him of “going the tank” in his 6-3 6-4 6-0 second-round capitulation against Andy Roddick and two years after he won even fewer games in a second-round hammering at the hands of Marin Cilic.

Evans had upset world No.12 Kei Nishikori in the opening round, but there was no sign of the lowly-ranked qualifier reproducing such magic as Tomic rolled through the first set in 22 minutes.

In the second set, the two players traded a flurry of service breaks but it was Evans who reined in his double faults to move ahead and take out the set.

Evans took a stranglehold on the match by winning the vital third and there was no stopping the 23-year-old underdog as he progressed to the third round of a grand slam for the first time in his career.

Hewitt will be out to go at least one better than Tomic on Friday when he takes on sixth seed and fellow former Open champion Juan Martin del Potro.