Brandon Nakashima, one of the hottest players in men's tennis this summer, couldn't find his best game Wednesday, losing to fellow American Alex Michelsen in the US Open second round.
In a battle of two rising Americans, Michelsen, 22, defeated 25-year-old Nakashima 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
The 16th-seeded Nakashima came to New York having reached one final and two semifinals in key warmup tournaments, amassing a 12-3 record and upsetting several higher-ranking players with a hard-hitting game tailor made for New York's fast hard courts.
But on Wednesday, Nakashima's game lacked the forcefulness he had demonstrated during the summer swing, allowing Michelsen to control more of the points with his big serve and heavy ground strokes.
Michelsen, ranked 46th, said he was thrilled to reach the US Open third round for the first time.
"It feels great to to beat a guy like him. He's beaten so many good players this summer," said Michelsen, who next faces Daniel Merida of Spain, currently ranked 39th.
Although both players hail from Southern California, they had never played before. But the two have practiced often, Michelsen said.
Practicing with potential foes means "you can see their tendencies," Michelsen said, adding that he noticed from watching one of Nakashima's matches earlier this summer that he tended to target serves to the same place on big points in the ad court.
"I was like, 'Okay, he's doing it all the time, and it's definitely his favourite serve, so let's take that away and make him hit not his favourite serve," Michelsen said.
Nakashima praised Michelsen's performance, but expressed disappointment at the early exit from New York.
"(I'm) pretty disappointed from today, but I mean, at the same time, a lot of positives to take away from from the summer," Nakashima said.
"He played a solid match, but from my end, that wasn't close to the level that I can play at," Nakashima said.
The strong run this summer heaped more attention on Nakashima, who was in the same corner of the draw as Novak Djokovic, a bracket that is now wide open after the Serbian great's first-round exit.
"It has been a lot of new experiences for me, with maybe a little bit more added pressure, a little bit more with media and everything," Nakashima said.
"I have to embrace it as much as possible, and try to find a way to kind of block out all the added noise and pressure, and just kind of focus on what I need to do out there and try to play well," he said.