Sloane Stephens' best Australian Open in five years has ended with a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 loss to unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round that lasted 2+ hours and finished at nearly 2 a.m.
The fifth-seeded Stephens was the 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up, but she hadn't won a match at Melbourne Park since 2014, when she also lost in the fourth round.
The American had all sorts of problems on her serve, facing a total of 23 break points and getting broken seven times, including in the last game.
Pavlyuchenkova, a Russian ranked 44th, played aggressively and compiled a 46-28 edge in total winners.
In her fifth Grand Slam quarterfinal, she will face another unseeded player, Danielle Collins of the U.S.