Simona Halep blamed knee tendonitis for her shock first-round exit from the Australian Open.
American Shelby Rogers sent the the highly rated fourth seed crashing out on day one with a crushing straight-sets win in the first match of the Open on Rod Laver Arena.
The world No.52 needed just 75 minutes to remove Halep from the draw 6-3 6-1 in the first boilover of the tournament.
"Definitely she played well. She played very high standard. I had pain at my knee," Halep said after needing medication after dropping the opening set on Monday.
"For me, in the second set, was difficult to move anymore, but she deserved to win. She was aggressive and she hit very strong, the balls."
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It was a sorry case of deja vu for Halep, who also bombed out in the opening round last year.
Mentored by Darren Cahill, Halep arrived in Melbourne with high hopes after spending Christmas in Adelaide with the esteemed Australian coach to acclimatise to the hot summer conditions.
But the Romanian looked uncomfortable from the outset against Rogers.
Halep, though, never considered quitting.
"I'm never thinking to withdraw from a tournament because it's not in my inside," said the two-time Open quarter-finalist.
"But I tried. I had some anti-inflammatory before the match, and the previous days.
"But when you have the tension of the match, official match, the pressure, it comes harder.
So I had harder pain, and I couldn't do what I wanted."
A French Open quarter-finalist last year, Rogers will play either Australian wildcard Ashleigh Barty or German Annika Beck on Wednesday for a place in the last 32.
"I'm happy to get through and I'll take confidence out of what I did today," Rogers said.
"My game plan worked. Just move forward, hit your shots, be really aggressive. When I'm doing that, I am playing well. Very happy with how I did today."
