Jelena Ostapenko suffered her second successive first-round loss at the French Open since winning the 2017 title as she was beaten by former world number one Victoria Azarenka on Tuesday.
Considering the calibre of her opponent, a 6-4, 7-6(4) loss was not as demoralising as last year's defeat by Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova.
But it continued a steep decline for the 21-year-old who also fell in round one at the Australian Open and has managed back-to-back wins just once in 2019.
The match statistics made grim reading for Ostapenko with 60 unforced errors to Azarenka's 19.
While the Latvian continues to struggle, Azarenka is heading in the right direction having risen back into the top 50 for the first time since giving birth to son Leo in December 2016.
Yet it was the Belarussian who began the match in charitable fashion, opening with two double faults before watching two Ostapenko backhands flash by her.
She broke back in the next game but dropped serve for the third time in the set to trail 4-3.
Ostapenko double-faulted four times in the next game to hand back the advantage, then twice more at 5-6 to surrender a scrappy first set.
She continued to mix flashing winners with unforced errors in the second, leading 4-2 but allowing Azarenka back in.
Ostapenko served for the set at 6-5 and led 30-0 only to offer up more free points to her grateful opponent.
In the tiebreak Azarenka brought up match point with a thumping forehand winner and Ostpenko's 60th unforced error ended the contest.
Juan Martin del Potro fired up his power game after a sluggish start to ease past Nicolas Jarry in an all-South American first round clash at the French Open on Tuesday.
The eighth seed, a semi-finalist last year, won 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, the four sets taking a little more than four hours.
"The conditions were difficult at the start with wind and some rain, and Nicolas played so strong, but after that I took control of the game and played better," Argentine del Potro said on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Chilean Jarry, ranked 58th and a finalist in Geneva last week, was a potentially tough hurdle for Del Potro, who is in just his third tournament since yet another injury break, this time to his right knee.
In the opening set Chilean Jarry took advantage of a couple of gifts to break Del Potro's opening service game and remained solid to pocket the opening set.
The 30-year-old Del Potro is not one to panic, however, and when three wayward forehands and then a Jarry double-fault handed Del Potro his first service break in the second game of the second set, the momentum quickly shifted.
It was one-way traffic after that as del Potro took charge to set up a second round clash with Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka, who beat American Mackenzie McDonald in five sets.
"I'm just happy to be playing tennis again and to be in Paris after all my injuries," said Del Potro who has missed a combined three years since 2010, mainly with wrist injuries. "I have great memories here.
"This tournament means a lot to the Argentine players and the fans. I'm excited to keep winning."
Del Potro was joined in the second round by compatriot Federico Delbonis, who beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Zverev digs deep to reach Round 2
Alexander Zverev was made to work hard to reach the second round of the French Open with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 2-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win over Australian John Millman.
The German fifth seed, looking for a major breakthrough on the Grand Slam stage, needed more than four hours to see off the world number 56 and set up a meeting with Swedish qualifier Mikael Ymer.
The 22-year-old Zverev, one of the leading figures of the sport's 'new generation', claimed his best result at a major when he reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year.
For a moment, it seemed he could be sent packing on his first day on court.
Millman cancelled out Zverev's early break with the German winning the resulting tiebreak in the opener before sailing through the second set.
But Zverev never looked comfortable in changing conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier and he was overpowered in the third, Millman taking the tie into a fourth set with a powerful forehand winner.
Zverev stole his serve but Millman turned it around to force a tiebreak, which he won to take the match into a decider.
That did not please Zverev, who destroyed his racket in frustration.
But a timely break in the ninth game of the fifth set had him serve for the match. There were no nerves on display as Zverev ended the contest on his first match point.