Kyle Edmund suffered his second defeat in three days after losing 6-3 5-7 6-2 to Italy's Andreas Seppi in the opening round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
The British No 1 reached a career-high ranking of 23 after making his first ATP Tour final in Marrakesh at the weekend, but a largely positive week ended badly when he was well beaten by lowly-ranked Pablo Andujar.
He subsequently struggled in the first set against Seppi and trailed 5-1 after a lacklustre first six games.
Edmund rallied at the end of the set and finally made his sixth break point of the second count to force a decider but Seppi, who was one of Edmund's victims during his run to the Australian Open semi-final s, finished the stronger to secure victory.
Coverage of the ATP Monte Carlo Rolex Masters gets underway from 10am on Sky Sports Arena every day this week.
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