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Australian Max Purcell has been beaten in straight sets by Sweden's Mikael Ymer at the ATP 250 event in North Carolina.

Max Purcell will turn his attention to his opening match at the US Open after losing to Mikael Ymer in the third round of the tune-up event in North Carolina.

Purcell, who was promoted into the main draw of the Winston-Salem Open as a lucky loser when fellow Australian John Millman withdrew through injury, went down 7-5 6-2 to Swede Ymer in 90 minutes.

The 23-year-old was unable to reproduce the form that got him past highly-fancied compatriot Jordan Thompson in the second round - his fifth win over a top-100 player since June.

Purcell, ranked 205th going into the ATP 250 event this week, will now head to New York as one of seven Australian men in the singles main draw after he was granted a wildcard last week.

The others are Millman, Thompson, Alex de Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, Alexei Popyrin and James Duckworth.

Meanwhile, top seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, American Frances Tiafoe and French veteran Richard Gasquet were among the round of 16 winners in Winston-Salem to advance to the quarter-finals.