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Emma Raducanu came achingly close to victory against world No 7 Jessica Pegula before crashing out of the China Open - one set after the British No 1 had set up three match points.
The Briton has placed full focus on the Asian swing as the season begins to wind down, with a view to a seeded berth at next year's Australian Open in January.
Raducanu's commitment to playing as much as she can to boost her ranking even saw the 22-year-old snub her Billie Jean King Cup commitments, with her decision to withdraw from the finals in Shenzen coming as a shock to her captain Anne Keothavong.
But after being knocked out of the Korea Open in Seoul at the quarter-final stage, Raducanu continued to be thwarted in her attempts to make deep runs in Asia with defeat to last year's US Open finalist.
Raducanu came storming out of the gates in the opening set, building a promising three-game lead before Pegula could even get on the board.
Despite the American star gaining a break back to make it 4-3, Raducanu held her nerve and calmly despatched the first set in 40 minutes in the face of an increasingly frustrated Pegula.
Emma Raducanu suffered a second defeat from a match-point position in Beijing on Monday
The former US Open champion was stopped in her tracks at the end of the second set by Jessica Pegula
Raducanu again snagged an early break in the second set, but Pegula started to look a renewed force as the game wore on, tracking the younger player to force a tiebreak.
But Raducanu continued to have the upper hand, claiming the opportunity to swipe the game at 6-5, 8-7, and 9-8 up in the set's decider.
Instead, Pegula was handed a number of get-out-of-jail-free impressive returns, and eventually wrenched momentum from the Briton to square the match.
After giving her all in the tiebreak, Raducanu appeared to lose her focus on the match altogether, and quickly slipped to a 6-0 defeat, looking as if she wished she was as far away from the court in Beijing as possible during the changes of ends.
Pegula will now play the number 23 seed Marta Kostyuk in her next round of 16 match, but admitted in her on-court interview that she was lucky to progress at all.
'That was really intense to face match points, but I got myself back into it, and I wanted to keep the pressure on,' Pegula said.
'And she hit the double fault, which helped, and I knew I was playing well.
The 22-year-old had started the match well and looked to be keen to secure the win at pace
The player will now have to look ahead to a possible final event in China at the Wuhan Open
Raducanu is currently travelling with her mother Renee as she competes around Asia
'I got a bit lucky with the two backhand winners that I managed to squeeze in, but I just tried to keep fighting for as long as I could.'
For Raducanu, the result will come as a major disappointment as it marks her second defeat in a month after being match point up, following her loss to Barbora Krejcikova in Seoul.
Raducanu is a popular figure in China due to her heritage on her mother's side, and wowed fans in Beijing after her opening win against Cristina Bucsa when she responded to the on-court interviewer's questions in flawless Mandarin.
Chinese fans will get a final opportunity to watch the star in action at the start of next month, with Raducanu expected to feature in the Wuhan Open from October 6.
