Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska, who made it to the final in Lyon on Sunday a week after escaping Russian bomb attacks in her home city of Odessa, took the court on Wednesday for a first-round match against France's Caroline Garcia draped in a Ukrainian flag at Indian Wells.
But she fell at the first hurdle, saving two match points in the second set tiebreaker before succumbing 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-5.
Garcia advanced to a second-round meeting with 11th-seeded US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
OSAKA-STEPHENS BLOCKBUSTER
Raducanu will be playing her first match since a hip injury forced her to retire from her first round match at Guadalajara last month.
The 32 seeded players in both the men's and women's draws enjoy first-round byes, but the women's first round has still thrown up a blockbuster between four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and former major winner Sloane Stephens.
Both are unseeded, Osaka having dropped out of the top 80 in the world after falling in the third round of her Australian Open title defense.
She's now ranked 78th in the world while Stephens, who ended a four-year title drought with a win at Guadalajara, is ranked 38th.
Among other first-round matches on Wednesday, Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina beat France's Clara Burel 6-3, 6-2, Japan's Misaki Doi rallied to beat Anastasia Potapova 0-6, 6-4, 6-3, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic beat American Hailey Baptiste 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 and China's Zheng Qinwen beat 2009 champion Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-2.