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London - Australia's miserable Wimbledon singles campaign came to a suitably downbeat end when Arina Rodionova was beaten 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) by Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas on Thursday.
Rodionova was Australia's last hope of Wimbledon singles success this year after a dismal series of first and second round defeats for her compatriots.
The 27-year-old battled through three qualifying matches to make the Wimbledon main draw and saved seven match points in her dramatic first round upset of Russian 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
But Rodionova, the world number 166, had lost her three previous meetings with Diyas and she was unable to break her duck against the world number 130.
With Rodionova out in the second round, Australia's wait goes on for a first Wimbledon women's champion since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.
The defeat completed a depressing 24 hours for Rodionova, whose husband, Hawthorn AFL star Ty Vickery, and his former Richmond teammate Jake King were arrested by police and questioned over allegations of threatening behaviour and extortion.
King was charged with one count of extortion, one of making threats to kill, two counts of threats to seriously injure and two counts of using a carriage service to harass.
He was released on bail and will appear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on November 15.
Vickery was released from custody without charge pending further investigation.
The 27-year-old reportedly enlisted King to help him recover $100,000 he believes has been stolen from his Hawthorn restaurant business.
Trying to focus on her tennis, Rodionova had made a flying start with a break in the first game, but after holding a 2-0 lead she lost six of the next eight games to surrender the first set.
From a position of even greater strength in the second set, Rodionova blew a 5-1 lead as Diyas forced a tie-break by breaking the Australian three times when she served to level the match.
Diyas won all the key points in the breaker and goes on to face Denisa Allertova or Petra Martic for a place in the last 16.
Wimbledon results on Thursday, the fourth day of the 2017 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeding):
Men
2nd rd
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x13) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1
Dudi Sela (ISR) bt John Isner (USA x23) 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3
Mischa Zverev (GER x27) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4
David Ferrer (ESP) bt Steve Darcis (BEL) 3-0 -- retired
Gael Monfils (FRA x15) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR) 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) bt Juan Martn Del Potro (ARG x29) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)
Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) bt Adam Pavlsek (CZE) 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Women
2nd rd
Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-2
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x7) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-0, 7-5
Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
Coco Vandeweghe (USA x24) bt Tatjana Malek (GER) 6-4, 6-2
