Tim Henman produced a frustrating display as he crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters to Mariano Zabaleta.
Resuming the rain-delayed match trailing 6-4 2-1, the British number three seed showed flashes of good form to force a third set.
And, at 2-1 up in the decider, Henman looked the more likely to make progress on the Monaco clay.
But he then interspersed the occasional quality shot with many careless errors to fall to a limp 6-4 4-6 6-2 loss.
Zabaleta's performance was also flawed, but the clay-court expert found some stunning passes to seal the win.
And Henman was left to rue a series of double faults and netted ground strokes at key times during the match.
"Today I felt that I was dictating a little bit," he said afterwards.
"But on clay you have to make the most of these momentum swings."
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MMIX
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