Great Britain's bid to remain in the World Group of the Davis Cup got off to the worst possible start after Tim Henman crashed to a 6-4 6-4 7-6 defeat against Hicham Arazi of Morocco.
Henman, who had been Britain's banker after winning the last seven times he has started for the team, was under pressure from the off after his serve was broken in the very first game.
He was broken again in the third game after missing another forehand and volleying into the net to put Arazi 3-0 up.
There were far too many errors on both fore and backhand creeping into Henman's performance, but he showed character in the fifth game by coming back from 15-30 down thanks to some powerful serving.
Arazi was also looking fragile at moments, allowing two set points to escape as Henman showed more grit in fighting from 40-15 down to make it 5-3, but he could do nothing as the remaining games went with serve allowing Arazi to take the first set 6-4.
Henman got a promising start to the second set, serving positively and taking the first game with an ace. However, unforced errors again proved to be decisive as a string of unforced mistakes allowed Arazi to race into a 4-2 lead.
His forehand at times let him down badly and that was illustrated in the sixth game as he hit a simple volley almost into the crowd.
The seventh game saw Henman put himself immediately under pressure with two double faults, but was able to hold his nerve to take the game without dropping a further point.
Once again however, as the sound of prayers from the local mosque drifted across court, more unforced errors on both hands were to prove fatal, giving Arazi a lift which his nervous play needed.
Worryingly for Britain, Henman spent the time between the second and third sets receiving treatment from physio Mark Bender as his neck gave him trouble.
Nevertheless, that set saw Henman produce some of his best tennis, even forcing a set point after coming back from 30-0 down in the 12th game.
However, he was unable to take his chance and that proved fatal as, spurred on by a small and vocal crowd and aided by a Henman double fault at 4-4, Arazi took the tie-break, the set and the match to give Morocco a 1-0 lead and leave Britain with an uphill struggle.