Rinky Hijikata has been dealt a grand slam reality check as Australia’s tennis stars crashed back to earth at the US Open in New York.

Hijikata was no match for Grigor Dimitrov, suffering a 6-1 6-1 7-6 (7-4) thrashing at the hands of the Bulgarian ninth seed to bow out in the second round.

Former women’s quarterfinalist Ajla Tomljanovic and 18-year-old qualifier Maya Joint were also eliminated on day three at Flushing Meadows.

With 10 players making the second round, Australia’s bumper 20-strong contingent had made their brightest start to the Open in 45 years.

The men, in particular, have been on fire with eight Australians winning their opening matches for the first time since 1976 — almost half a century ago.

Now they’re down to seven, with 28th seed Alexei Popyrin given the chance to save the day later against Spaniard Pedro Martínez.

Hijikata stormed to the fourth round last year as a wildcard but knew he’d have his work cut out against Dimitrov, who is playing his best tennis at age 33.

Hijikata, though, could not have imagined winning only two games in the first two sets.

The 23-year-old put up more of a fight in the third but the one-time world number three’s class ultimately prevailed as Dimitrov won through in two hours and 10 minutes.

Tomljanovic lost her second-round match 6-3 6-2 to Belgian 33rd seed Elise Mertens, while Joint’s breakout grand slam run came to a halt with a 6-4 6-0 loss to 2017 runner-up Madison Keys.

But with four wins at her maiden international slam, Joint is projected to leave New York with a career-high ranking of number 108 in the world, up some 27 spots and on track to gain direct entry to the Australian Open in January.

Elsewhere, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková suffered an early defeat at Flushing Meadows, falling in straight sets to Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-4 7-5.

The number eight seed won her second grand slam singles title this summer, but she didn’t play any matches after the Paris Olympics.

She acknowledged last week not knowing where her level of play was. Turns out, it wasn’t good enough.

“Winning Wimbledon is amazing. It’s a great, great, great result, I’m very proud about it and how I was able to handle everything there,” said Krejčíková, who hadn’t played a tournament on hard courts since February.

“I was playing quite well, definitely better than in the first match. I think my game was improving, but it just wasn’t enough.”

Ruse got much more work on the US Open’s hard courts while playing her way into the main draw through the qualifying tournament and was better than Krejčíková on the points that mattered most.

She fought back from 5-3 down in the second set to win the final four games.

“Barbora, she’s such a good player, she’s won so many matches in the last two years and it’s just a dream for me,” said Ruse, a 26-year-old from Romania.

She advanced to the third round of a slam for the first time and will play No. 26 seed Paula Badosa, who eliminated American Taylor Townsend 6-3 7-5.

Badosa continued her strong summer by reaching the third round of the for the first time.

AAP