Cameron Norrie was unable to turn his fortunes around on the British grass as he lost to huge-serving Milos Raonic in the first round at Queen’s.
Canada’s Raonic hit 47 aces – a record for the most in a three-set match – in a 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-6 (11-9) victory.
Norrie had two match points in the third-set tie-break but could not convert before Raonic took his third opportunity.
“He played a very good match. He served all the different spots. He was too good in the end,” Norrie said.
“I tried to hold my serve. There is not much you can do when he is hitting it so accurately. It’s impossible.”
It is 28-year-old Norrie’s second successive defeat on home soil after losing to 773rd-ranked qualifier Jack Pinnington-Jones in Nottingham earlier in June.
A difficult season has seen Norrie win 15 and lose 13 of his 28 matches.
He has dropped to 38th in the world as a result and was displaced as the British men’s number one this week by Jack Draper.
“I’m feeling great about my game but not getting results. It’ll come good,” said Norrie.
“I have a lot to be positive about and won’t dwell on it.”
Raonic reached the Wimbledon final in 2016, where he lost to Britain’s Andy Murray, but the 33-year-old has had his career decimated by injuries in recent years.
This performance was a reminder of the devastating ability he possesses on the grass.
The regularity of his aces – and the speed of them, with the fastest hitting 145mph – was met with increasing awe by the London crowd.
A 144mph ace down the middle brought up a third match point for the Canadian which he took with a cross-court forehand winner.
Norrie had hung tough in the face of Raonic’s arsenal and only faced four break points himself.
Missing a volley for a 3-1 lead in the tie-break looked like it could be costly and, although he recovered to level and earn match points, Raonic played the big points superbly to come through.
“It’s a big part of my game. If I didn’t have my serve my career would be very different,” said Raonic, who is ranked 186th in the world having played just nine matches this season.
Meanwhile, Danish world number 13 Holger Rune described the Queen’s courts as “terrible” after slipping during his three-set defeat by Australia’s Jordan Thompson.
Rune, a semi-finalist last year, told umpire James Keothavong the court was “too wet” but adopted a more conciliatory tone after the match.
“It was same on both sides. He managed to not slip,” Rune said.
“I just need to get better balance for the upcoming tournaments and be better in general.”
Frances Tiafoe also suffered a nasty fall which led to the American retiring from his match against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata.
Former US Open semi-finalist Tiafoe appeared to injure his hip, stopping at 5-7 6-4 0-1 before limping to the net where he was consoled by Hijikata.
Elsewhere, Russian world number five Daniil Medvedev began his grass-court season with 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win over Portugal’s Nunes Borges in Halle.
What’s happening at Queen’s on Tuesday?
Five-time champion Andy Murray starts what is likely to be his final appearance at Queen’s as he faces Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin in the first round.
The pair are third on centre court, meaning it is likely to start about 16:30 BST.
Draper follows against Argentina’s Mariano Navone.
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz meets Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in the match before Murray from about 14:15.
Dan Evans and Billy Harris are the other Britons in singles action, playing American Brandon Nakishima and Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry respectively.
You can watch the action live across BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website from 12:00.