Bernard Tomic's run of outs has continued into the claycourt season with the Australian suffering a first round loss at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Taking to his least favourite surface against Argentine claycourt specialist Diego Schwartzman, Tomic was always up against it and went down 6-1 7-6 (7-3).
The Queenslander at least had his moments as the match wore on, serving for the second set and even having a set point.
But the world No.41 broke back and ultimately took the set in a tiebreak to win the match.
It leaves Tomic, who has slipped to No.43 in the world from a high of 17 last year, with five first round losses in the first four months of the year.
Things will likely get worse before they get much better for the former Wimbledon quarter-finalist, with Tomic winning just three of 11 matches on clay during the past two years.
His best chance of a rankings boost comes during the grass court season where he typically performs well.
Even that could be something of a task this year though, Tomic unlikely to be seeded for Wimbledon where he has points to defend from making the fourth round in 2016.
While Tomic's 2017 horror show rolled on the seeded players in action were relatively untroubled.
Tomas Berdych faced the toughest examination and needed two hours and three sets to overcome strong resistance from Russian qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov.
Berdych, a runner-up at the Country Club two years ago, converted only two of his 11 break points and rallied Kuznetsov 4-6 6-3 6-4. Berdych made the decisive break in the third game of the decider with a backhand winner down the line.
Twelfth seed Robert Bautista Agut led the seeded victors with the others to advance being Pablo Carreno Busta, Alexander Zverev, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and Pablo Cuevas.
Widely regarded as one of the most promising youngsters on the tour, the 19-year-old Zverev secured a convincing 6-1 6-2 win over Italian veteran Andreas Seppi.
"I like playing on clay," Zverev said. "It's the surface I grew up on."
Zverev will next be up against either Feliciano Lopez or Daniil Medvedev.
Novak Djokovic, who has been drawn in the same half of the draw as nine-time champion Rafael Nadal, will start his campaign on Tuesday against Gilles Simon of France.
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