For just the second time in 20 years, five Australian players reached the third round at Wimbledon. They did not last long, though, with all five beaten – and just one winning a set – on day six at the All England Club.

The man leading Australia’s charge, 23-year-old Nick Kyrgios, was on court for just 100 minutes, thrashed 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 by Japan’s Kei Nishikori.

His defeat ended a particularly frustrating day for Australian tennis, with stars Ashleigh Barty and Daria Gavrilova also bundled out in straight sets.

Alex De Minaur’s clash against world No.1 Rafael Nadal ended in the same fashion, with Matthew Ebden – who pushed Frenchman Gilles Simon a little further – the only Aussie to win a set.

Kyrgios was kept waiting for most of the day to get on court, following Ernests Gulbis’ marathon clash with Alexander Zverev, but the first set took just 18 minutes to finish.

The Canberran dropped his bundle after going down 3-0 in the opener, putting up little resistance against an inspired Nishikori.

And he was broken in the first game of the second set, an advantage Nishikori quickly consolidated.

Kyrgios fought back strongly, though, producing a break of his own and finding his range on serve, meaning Nishikori had to hold serve to force a second set tiebreak.

But he did that comfortably, holding to love, before the Japanese star won the last five points of the tiebreak to a take a two-sets-to-love advantage.

The third set was an even affair, too, the only break coming as Kyrgios served to try and stay in the match at 4-5.

Nishikori was the dominant player, though, controlling the match on serve to record an excellent victory.

‘Playing scared doesn’t win you matches’

Gavrilova was typically frank after her defeat, a shock 6-3 6-1 defeat against unseeded Serbian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

“Mentally, I wanted it too much. And I played scared,” she said.

“I didn’t go after my shots … I need to overcome that because clearly playing scared doesn’t win you matches.

“I did a similar thing in Paris, and next time I just have to go after it and, yeah, overcome my fears, I guess.”

Gavrilova, who hit 10 double faults in her loss, said she had spoken to a counsellor about freezing on the big stage.

Gavrilova was frustrated throughout her defeat. Photo: Getty

But she added she was “really motivated” about tackling the hard-court season after third-round exits at both the French Open and Wimbledon.

‘Frustrating, disappointing’

Barty hit 24 unforced errors in her defeat, 14th seed Daria Kasatkina recording a 7-5 6-3 victory.

The Australian raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set and, just for a moment, it all looked to be opening up for Barty, given the constant exits of the top seeds in the women’s draw.

But she lost her way and, as a result, missed out on a chance to feature in the last 16 of a grand slam for the first time.

“A frustrating day for sure … it’s disappointing to lose in any tournament, but I felt like I was playing well and I wasn’t able to do that today,” she said.

“I knew what I wanted to do out there but I wasn’t able to do that.”

De Minaur, Ebden also sent packing

As expected, Nadal proved far too strong for De Minaur, winning 6-1 6-2 6-4 against the 19-year-old.

The teenager was upbeat afterwards, though, insisting the experience was “definitely something special”.

Nadal needed just two hours and four minutes to claim victory. Photo: Getty

“Being able to play on Centre Court against Rafa, that’s something that I will remember forever,” he said.

“I was able to play some great tennis [on grass] … I’ve had my best result at a slam.”

Ebden at least won a set against Simon, but the experienced Frenchman proved too strong, triumphing 6-1 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-2).

Simon won the first set in just 20 minutes but Ebden fought back strongly to set up an exciting clash.

Ebden struggled on serve though, producing 12 double faults, and he lacked composure on the key points as Simon – a quarter-finalist in 2015 – eventually progressed.