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."
There was more disappointment for Henman later on when he and Swiss partner Yves Allegro crashed out of the doubles 6-3 6-1 to Argentine Mariano Hood and Germany's Michael Kohlmann.
MMIX
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