Britain's Dan Evans fell to a straight sets defeat to Jiri Vesely in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
Vesley, from the Czech Republic, needed only one hour and 16 minutes to run out a comfortable 6-3 6-1 winner and bridge a gap of five places in the world rankings.
World number 58 Evans had chances to break at 4-1 down in the first set and recover from a difficult start.
But Vesely showed his fighting spirit by saving every one of Evans' eight break points in the contest.
Aljaz Bedene booked his place in the first round by beating Argentina's Renzo Olivo in straight sets.
Having already dispatched Lukas Lacko in the first qualifying round, the British number three displayed early nerves in dropping his opening service game against Olivo.
However, four games in succession helped Bedene secure the opening set before a decisive break in game five of the second sealed a 6-3 6-4 victory in one hour and 36 minutes.
The world number 56 joins fellow Britons Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund in the men's main draw in Rome.
Meanwhile, the head of women's tennis said the presence of Romanan Fed Cup captain Ilie Nastase at the Madrid Open trophy presentation ceremony was "irresponsible and unacceptable".
Nastase, 70, is under investigation by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) following his behaviour at last month's Fed Cup tie with Britain but shared the stage with Madrid champion and his Fed Cup team member Simona Halep after her victory over Kristina Mladenovic on Saturday.
"He had no place on the court today," said WTA chief Steve Simon. "The only shadow cast on the day was Mr Nastase's invitation to participate in the award ceremony.
"He is currently under a provisional suspension by the ITF for his prior offensive actions and we revoked his credentials at WTA events while the investigation is being completed. It was both irresponsible and unacceptable of the Madrid Open to bestow him an official role. The Madrid tournament is a Premier-level event and held to the highest standards of professional tennis and leadership which were not reflected today."
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