Japanese interest in the women's singles ended at the U.S. Open on Saturday after Shinobu Asagoe suffered a 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.
Shinobu Asagoe returns a backhand to Patty Schnyder during their third-round match at the U.S. Open in New York.
No. 24 seed Asasgoe struggled with her ground strokes in the first set and could find no way back into the game as 11th-seeded Schnyder went on to wrap up the 55-minute match and avenge her defeat at last year's French Open.
"I only really started to play well at the end of the second set but of course by that time it was too late. I'm really disappointed," shrugged Asagoe, who reached the quarterfinals here last year.
"I felt in our previous games (Schnyder) had maybe been a bit careless but the message that came across today was there was no way she was going to lose to a lower-ranked opponent," added the 29-year-old.
In the women's doubles draw, Ai Sugiyama and Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and Rika Fujiwara and Na Li advanced to the third round.
Fifth seeds Sugiyama and Hantuchova beat American Amy Frazier and Russian Alina Jidkova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 while Fujiwara and her Chinese partner downed Israel's Anna Smashnova and Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar 6-4, 7-5.