Lleyton Hewitt's 60th grand slam appearance has been kept brief after Argentine Carlos Berlocq sent him packing in the first round of the French Open.
Hewitt started strongly and took the first set before unseeded Berlocq fought back to win 3-6 6-2 6-1 6-4 at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
The 33-year-old Australian remains winless at the clay court grand slam since 2010 and he'll now turn his attention to Wimbledon next month.
The grass court season was always Hewitt's main priority but after arriving in Paris fully fit for the first time in several years, he had been optimistic about his campaign.
Hewitt started brightly in a match played in overcast conditions on Tuesday, fending off three break points to serve out a high-quality first set in 48 minutes.
Berlocq, ranked one place lower than Hewitt at No.47, had come into the tournament in good form having beaten Tomas Berdych in the final of the claycourt event in Portugal last month.
A fightback always seemed likely and the 31-year-old took control of the match in the second set.
He secured an early break and ran away with it, serving superbly with only three faults in the entire set.
Hewitt worked hard to get back into the match, trying to chase down everything in typical fashion, and while many games in the third set were close Berlocq's defence was simply too strong.
Hewitt fought back from 3-1 down to take a 4-3 lead in the fourth set but Berlocq broke again and closed out the match with a sublime drop shot on his third match point.
The Argentine will face either French 12th seed Richard Gasquet or Australian Bernard Tomic in the second round.
Hewitt had no regrets about taking a positive approach in slow and heavy conditions.
"It was always going to be a tough match and I was going to have to go out there and try and be aggressive," Hewitt said.
"I was going to make some errors out there, but I still feel like that was my best shot at winning."
While ideally he would have liked more time on court this week, Hewitt feels his game is in good shape heading onto grass.
"I was pretty happy with how I hit the ball," he said.
"It's obviously disappointing right now but, you know, there are positives.
"My body feels good and I played over three hours and I feel like I could keep playing."
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