Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios again looked at home on the grand slam stage but ultimately found Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic far too strong in the French Open first round.
Kyrgios, at 19 the youngest man in the draw, became the first Australian to bow out of Roland Garros this year with a 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 defeat on Sunday.
While wildcard entrant Kyrgios, ranked 160th in the world, could not repeat his first round heroics from last year he was far from disgraced in a match between two of tennis’ most exciting young prospects.
He made 23-year-old Raonic fight hard but the Canadian came up with the big plays at crucial times, banging down 18 aces as he secured a victory in two hours.
Kyrgios upset Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in Paris last year in his grand slam debut, while he also won his first round match at the Australian Open in January.
Repeating the feat was always going to be a huge ask against a rising top ten player.
Kyrgios made a slightly nervous start in a match played under overcast skies on the Suzanne Lenglen show court.
Raonic was always in control of the first set after breaking serve early and Kyrgios failed to convert three break points while trailing 5-3.
The Australian looked more composed in the second set, with his first service percentage improving markedly, and he finally converted a break point when he blasted a forehand down the line to go 4-2 up.
However the world No.9 broke back immediately and he thumped Kyrgios 7-1 in a second-set tiebreaker.
Raonic closed out the match with relative ease in the third, firing an ace to convert his third match point and reach the second round.
There are eight other Australians competing in singles at Roland Garros, with Samantha Stosur beginning her campaign on Monday and Lleyton Hewitt and Bernard Tomic starting on Tuesday.