British number three Harriet Dart was knocked out of the Tianjin Open in the first round by qualifier Kurumi Nara.
Dart, 23, took the first set against her Japanese opponent, 26 places below her in the world rankings at 159.
But Nara fought back to level before going on to win 3-6 6-1 6-3 in two hours and 14 minutes in China.
Second seed Wang Qiang beat Arina Rodionova to set up a second-round tie against British number two Heather Watson on Thursday.