Heather Watson saved four match points but was unable to prevent world number 25 Jelena Jankovic winning in three sets in the Wuhan Open first round.
Defeat means Watson will be replaced as British number one by Johanna Konta, who reached the second round with Sunday's win over Andrea Petkovic.
Though she fought brilliantly over more than two hours on centre court, Watson lost 6-3 2-6 6-3 and has now suffered back-to-back first-round exits following last week's Korea Open.
In what was the pair's first meeting, Jankovic reeled off six straight games in the first set to bounce back from being 3-0 down, as Watson was made to pay for not taking her chance to pull four ahead.
Regardless, Watson produced the goods in the second set to take it 6-2, striking five aces in the process, with her opponent double-faulting three times.
It set up a tasty decider but unfortunately for Watson she was broken in the second game, and though she battled well on the Jankovic serve could not prevent her opponent from taking a 3-0 lead.
An errant backhand from Watson made it 4-0 to Jankovic before the Briton finally served her way to a game at 5-1.
Watson then saved four match points on the Jankovic serve in winning the second of three straight games to come back to 5-3, but the Serb recovered quickly enough and sealed the match with a backhand winner.
Jankovic now faces Germany's Angelique Kerber.
Source: PA
