Australia’s John-Patrick Smith has bowed out of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
The last remaining Australian left in the singles of the grass court tournament, the world No.148 Smith went down to Switzerland’s Marco Chiudinelli.
Chiudinelli, who is into the final eight of an ATP World Tour event for the first time in six years, beat Smith 1-6 6-3 6-3.
Top seed Steve Johnson has advanced to the quarter-finals, beating Japan’s Yuichi Sugita, 6-1 6-4.
Coming off a career-best finish in a Grand Slam, the 26-year-old Johnson needed just 20 minutes to win the first set and 59 minutes to close the match.
It was his first on Newport’s grass this week after the top four seeds were given byes.
Second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia rallied past Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
Ranked No. 25 on the tour coming into the week, Johnson served an ace on the first point of the match and lost just one point in the third through fifth games of the opening set.
He had it a little tougher in the second, but continued his solid season on grass, raising his record to 11-3.
Johnson lost in the fourth round to Roger Federer at Wimbledon after winning his first career singles title, also on grass, at Nottingham last month.