PARIS: Denis Shapovalov's growing fan club were left disappointed as his French Open debut was cut short by Germany's Maximilian Marterer in the second round on Thursday.
The Canadian 19-year-old's eye-catching groundstrokes have rocketed him up the rankings in the past 12 months and he arrived to contest only his fourth Grand Slam seeded 24.
Despite taking the first set against fellow left-hander Marterer, three years his senior, he lost an absorbing scrap on the Court 1 bullring 5-7 7-6(4) 7-5 6-4.
Shapovalov's game first began to fray in the middle of the second set when a double-fault at 3-3 gave Marterer the break.
The 70th-ranked German, also playing in the main draw for the first time, faltered when serving for second set at 5-4 but he made no mistake in the tiebreak, levelling the match when Shapovalov netted a forehand.
Shapovalov struggled to contain the errors in the third set and another double-fault when serving at 5-6 30-30 gave Marterer the chance to move ahead.
Marterer was powerless as Shapovalov found the line with a forehand winner to stave off the set point.
But he earned another one and this time produced a superb backhand winner.
It was the German who showed the greater composure at the crucial moments and he sensed his chance as Shapovalov served at 4-5 in the fourth, breaking to love to claim victory and move on to a third-round clash with Estonia's Jurgen Zopp.