Quebec’s Leylah Annie Fernandez surrendered in her first match at the Italian Open, beaten 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 by Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Fernandez led 3-0 in the final round, but saw her rival turn things around and win after a duel lasting two hours and 37 minutes.
The Lavalloise ranked 50e in the world had also lost in the first round in his previous outing at the Madrid Open.
Tuesday, both Fernandez and Sasnovich, 44e world racket, were victims of five breaks of service during their confrontation.
In the next round, Sasnovich will face the Croatian and 21e seeded Donna Vekic.
Earlier in the day, Barbora Strycova won her first match since her maternity leave, beating Maryna Zanevska 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
The 37-year-old returned to the WTA Tour two weeks ago as part of the Madrid Open, after an absence of more than two years due to the birth of her son, Vincent. After knocking out Zanevska, Strycova hugged her one-year-old son and asked him to “hello daddy in the stands” in front of a TV camera.
In Madrid, Strycova lost in the first round of the singles tournament before reaching the quarter-finals of the doubles tournament with her playing partner Hsieh Su-wei.
Strycova, who will face ninth seed Maria Sakkari in the next round in Rome, plans to announce her retirement after the US Open later this year.
Elsewhere, on clay at Foro Italico, Anna Blinkova came from behind to defeat Mayar Sherif 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Sherif had just made a name for himself by reaching the quarter-finals of the Madrid tournament.
Nuria Parrizas Dias also defeated Jule Niemeier in three sets of 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova defeated Kaia Kanepi 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 to earn a date with Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu.
Sofia Kenin, Caty McNally, Anett Kontaveit, Wang Xiyu, Linda Noskova, Jasmine Paolini and Lisa Pigato also made it through the first round.
On the men’s side, the headliners will undoubtedly be Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. Quebecer Félix Auger-Aliassime will also be one to watch.
The men’s section will begin on Wednesday.
Just like in Madrid, Rome will be counting on an increased main draw of 96 players, both on the men’s and women’s side.
Strycova and Hsieh are also due to take part in the Roman doubles tournament, a competition they won in 2020.