Daria Gavrilova was unable to disguise her abject disappointment after crashing out of the French Open with a straight-sets third-round drubbing at Roland Garros.
"It sucks. It's the worst feeling," Gavrilova said after blaming her passiveness for letting Elise Mertens eliminate her from a grand slam for the third time in 12 months.
The Belgian edged Gavrilova in a three-set thriller in Paris last year before fighting back from 5-0 down in the opening set to also deny the Australian at Melbourne Park in January.
The pair's latest tussle, though, was one-way traffic as Mertens belted Gavrilova 6-3 6-1 in barely an hour.
"Yeah, it wasn't great. I felt like the whole tournament I didn't play my tennis," said Gavrilova, the 24th seed.
"And I think Elise was playing really well, and she's really confident.
"But I just couldn't find a way, and I was too passive. I was running three metres behind the baseline and just wasn't aggressive at all."
The deflating defeat left the 24-year-old searching for a silver lining ahead of the looming grass-court season.
"(Third round is) obviously a better outcome than last year's," Gavrilova said.
"But I said to my coach, I'm still disappointed that I couldn't find a way to play free. I just haven't been playing as well as I've been practicing, but I think I'll find a way.
"And I'm still learning. So hopefully the next slam will be easier, and I'll just try and play my game and play free."
Gavrilova will prepare for Wimbledon, starting on July 2, with lead-up events in Birmingham and Eastbourne.
With her Roland Garros wounds still raw, she wasn't giving Wimbledon too much thought.
"I'll just get ready and, for now, I'll just have a few days off," Gavrilova said.
"I haven't had more than two days off since Oz Open probably."
While Gavrilova can pack her bags, Mertens shapes as a major obstacle for world No.1 Simona Halep in their fourth-round match-up on Monday.
Since her charge to the Australian Open semi-finals, the world No.16 has won three titles in 2018 and chalked up 12 straight victories on clay this season.
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