Britain's Tim Henman lost 6-2, 7-6 to German Tommy Haas in the second round of the Qatar Open on Wednesday.
Henman had recorded an impressive victory over Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the first round but Haas, the world number 45, played superb tennis in their first set, breaking 31-year-old Henman in the fourth game to go 3-1 up.
The German's booming serves had the Briton, who has slipped to 36 in the rankings, in trouble and he strung together some great passing shots to break Henman again in the eighth game to win the first set.
Henman raised his game in the second set but Haas matched him and took the tiebreak 7-5.
"I'm happy that I won in two sets. It's a psychological boost to know that you could do it in straight sets," Haas said.
"At times he (Henman) came out to play big tennis. It was a tough task, but in the end I am happy." Haas claimed that he could be one of the tour's most dangerous players this year.
"I've set some goals. Top priority is to stay healthy and fit.
"And I am going to be the dangerous player on the tour. I like to take my chances," he said confidently.
Henman said: "Of course I'm disappointed. I wasn't serving well while Tommy got his act together well. You know how important the serves are in tennis. I'm going to work on this (serving)."
Earlier second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Robin Vik of Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4 to book a quarter-final berth.
- UNI
More from rediff