Laura Robson conceded Li Na was too good for her this time as the British number one exited the US Open in the third round.
Twelve months ago the teenager announced her arrival on the world stage with back-to-back wins over Kim Clijsters and Li to reach the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time.
But fifth seed Li was in top form and, although Robson upped her level in the second set, it was not enough as the Chinese player won 6-2 7-5.
Robson said: “I thought she played really well. She didn’t give me too many chances in the rally, so I never felt I got a rhythm going with my groundstrokes.
“She was returning really deep. There wasn’t a lot I could do in some points. It was quite windy when we started the match, so on one side you would have to play more spin and I wasn’t quite doing that very well.”
The pair opened the schedule on Arthur Ashe, which meant they began the match in front of virtually empty stands, but Robson insisted that had not been a factor in her slow start.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be full,” she said. “I have played on there a couple times, so I’m used to it when it’s empty as well. I thought by the end of the match it was quite loud.”
Robson added: “(I’m) not too far (away). I think I’m going in the right direction. I feel like I’m improving and working on a more all-around game. It’s going to take a lot of hard work, but I’m willing to do that.
“I’m disappointed about today, for sure, and I thought I could have played a lot better. But I always knew it was going to be a tough match. All in all, I guess it was an average week.”
Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki crashed out of the third round.
The German, who beat Serena Williams at the All England Club before losing to Marion Bartoli in the final, lost 6-4 7-5 to big-hitting Russian Ekaterina Makarova at Flushing Meadows.
Lisicki, the 16th seed here, has reached the fourth round in New York just once but would have hoped to build on her great run in SW19.
Agnieszka Radwanska was another of Lisicki’s victims at Wimbledon, and she had a tough outing against 32nd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova but came through 6-4 7-6 (7/1).