Luckless Thanasi Kokkinakis has suffered a rankings hammering at the Los Cabos Open after failing to match his runner-up performance of last year.
Kokkinakis was beaten 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) by American seventh seed Taylor Fritz in the opening round of the ATP Tour 250 event in Mexico.
The defeat has left the 2017 finalist projected to plummet to No.266 in the world, a drop of more than 100 spots.
The injury prone South Australian was defending 150 points in Los Cabos after he fell just short of winning his maiden ATP Tour title 12 months ago - losing to Sam Querrey in the decider.
Wild card Kokkinakis was ranked 164 in the world going into the week but he failed to win the important points against Fritz in a match lasting two hours and three minutes.
Kokkinakis has battled a catalogue of injuries over the past three years.
The former world No. 69 recorded the biggest win of his career in March, defeating then No.1 Roger Federer at the Miami Open, but has failed to repeat that performance in subsequent tournaments.
Fritz will face fourth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the round of 16.
The day's other first round winners were Thomas Fabbiano, Yoshihito Nishioka and Michael Mmoh.
Argentine Juan Martin del Potro is the top seed for the hardcourt tournament.
