John-Patrick Smith continued Australia’s run of early exits from the Australian Open on Tuesday.
The wildcard entry from Townsville lost in straight sets to Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4 6-1 6-4 on day two.
Samantha Stosur remained the only home player to advance to the second round with nine of the 16 Australians at the tournament eliminated.
Ranked No.237, Smith recently finished a four-year tennis scholarship at the University of Tennessee.
After the tight first set the 23-year-old had the opportunity for an early break in the second but failed to capitalise on five break points and then lost six of the remaining seven games.
He toiled hard in the third but was unable to get the better of Sousa.
Smith said he was disappointed with his performance after losing two sets to one to Sousa in the recent Australian Open warm-up tournament in Sydney.
“It was a tough match … it wasn’t the game I wanted but it was still a great experience and it’s something I can learn from,” Smith said.
“I didn’t serve great but the good thing is that I’ve still got doubles and mixed coming up so it’s not the end of the world.”