Ash Barty's predicted Australian Open finalist would enter the Grand Slam without a Summer win after another flop in rival Adelaide.
World number two Aryna Sabalenka's preparations for the Open went down to bottom-ranked Sweden's Rebecca Petersen 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Sabalenka's loss followed a 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 loss to world number 100 Kaja Juvan of Slovenia in the South Australian capital last week.
While Barty is a perfect seven this year after winning the singles and doubles titles at the first consecutive Adelaide International, Sabalenka hasn't won in more than two months.
After failing to make the semi-finals of last year's season-ending championship in Mexico after losing to Maria Sakkari and Paula Badosa in the group stages, Sabalenka arrived in Australia in need of precious court time.
Instead, the 23-year-old will be severely reduced to a Melbourne park.
Barty has no such concerns.
The world No. 1 player opted out of this week's Sydney Tennis Classic to recharge and improve her game after improving her record to 17-1 against top-10 rivals over the past 12 months. preferred to fly directly to Melbourne.
Barty defeated 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, 2020 French Open champion Inga Swietake and world number 14 Elena Rybakina in successive matches, all in straight sets, with fellow Australian Storm Sanders to win doubles in Adelaide.
Sanders crashed back to Earth on Tuesday, losing 7-5, 6-2 in the first round to Italian Jasmine Paolini to crash Sabalenka out of Memorial Drive.
But fellow Australian Madison Inglis advanced to the second round with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 win over Danka Kovinic of Montenegro.
Inglis will face Slovenian fourth seed Tamara Zidansek on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals.
"I never actually played Tamara, never practiced with her," Inglis said.
"I've got a little bit of work to do for tonight, to come up with a game plan for tomorrow.
"I mean, she's obviously a really good player and a really good competitor.
"I look forward to being back there tomorrow and hopefully there will be a fight."