Cameron Norrie could not rediscover the form that helped him stun world No1 Carlos Alcaraz as he was knocked out of the Paris Masters in the third round.
The Briton was beaten by Valentin Vacherot, the recent winner of the Shanghai Masters, in straight sets at La Defense Arena.
Norrie, the world No31, sent shockwaves through the French capital as he defeated Alcaraz for a third time in his career, having beaten him in Cincinnati and Rio de Janeiro previously.
The Wimbledon quarter-finalist came back from a set down to dump the six-time Grand Slam champion out, but he was swept aside in straight sets by the Monegasque Vacherot.
Norrie was wasteful with his break-point opportunities, spurning all five presented to him in the 7-6(4) 6-4 defeat.
Vacherot rose to prominence with a stunning maiden ATP title in Shanghai, coming through qualifiers to eventually beat his cousin Arthur Rinderknech in the final in China.
Now world No40, he romped past 14th seed Jiri Lehecka in the first round in Paris, before overcoming Rinderknech once more to earn himself an encounter with Norrie, who was booed during the match as he attempted to lift the French crowd.
This victory over Norrie takes Vacherot up to 10 wins in Masters events, which makes him only the second player ranked outside the top 20 to have achieved the feat, with David Nalbandian the first to do it in 2007.
"It was a really big performance," Vacherot said afterwards.
"I'm happy with how I handled the hot moments.
"Everything is clicking now. It's the work of many years - pure work."
