A frustrated Daria Gavrilova has vowed not to be a "good girl anymore" when she enters next week's Australian Open without a win through the summer.
A week after losing her first match in Brisbane, the Australian No.2 fell in a 0-4 hole early in her round-one match against Yulia Putintseva at the Sydney International and couldn't recover.
She looked a broken figure when she rolled her ankle and had her serve broken early in the second set, but the world No.35 showed some fighting spirit to force a tiebreaker.
She then led 3-1 but lost six of the final seven points to eventually lose 6-1 7-6 (7-4).
The back-to-back first-round defeats put a massive dent in Gavrilova's preparations for Melbourne, where she has reached the round of 16 on two occasions.
"It sucks. I always want to win, but the start of the season is not great. I felt like I was really off today. In the first set, I wasn't myself," Gavrilova said.
"I felt like that was the same last week."
The former world No.20 has long struggled to find the balance between keeping her emotions in check and using them as a catalyst for energy.
But she hopes to figure it all out in time for Melbourne Park.
"Obviously the grand slam is next, so hopefully I will find the Dasha that everyone knows and be up and about," she said.
"It's almost like I was trying to be the good girl and not show much emotion, and I lost myself a bit. Yeah, I'm not going to be that good girl anymore."
Asked about her ankle issue, Gavrilova said: "I don't want to say.
"I started feeling it this week. Normally I never really have anything, so it's new to have niggles here and there. I'm getting old.
"When I was 18 I didn't have to do anything. Like, no recovery and never saw a physio. I was great. I was sweet."
Her exit from Sydney is another blow for tournament organisers, who had world No.7 Karolina Pliskova and Lesia Tsurenko withdraw after their clash in the Brisbane final.
World No.4 Naomi Osaka also pulled out on tournament eve.
Gavrilova was the second local to exit after wildcard Ajla Tomljanovic went down 6-3 6-3 to Italian world No.27 Camila Giorgi earlier on Monday.
Tomljanovic was down 2-1 when both players went back to the lockers due to another rain delay and when play resumed, she was unable to make any headway into Giorgi's serve.
Veteran Samantha Stosur faces Dominika Cibulkova later on Monday, while Australia's No.1, Ashleigh Barty, will face 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko on Tuesday.
