France's Paul-Henri Mathieu was a first-day casualty at the last ever Nottingham Open, one of the final warm-up events before Wimbledon.
The second seed was up against Croatia's Marin Cilic, the man he defeated at Queen's Club last week, but was beaten 1-6 6-4 6-3.
Cilic will play either Britain's James Ward or Alex Bogdanovic, who play on Tuesday, in the second round.
Defending champion Ivo Karlovic beat former winner Jonas Bjorkman.
The 6ft 10in Croatian, who beat Arnaud Clement in the final 12 months ago, broke Bjorkman once in each set for a 6-3 6-4 triumph. Karlovic launched 15 aces and offered little hope of a break for Bjorkman.
Cilic is ranked 55th in the world and was delighted to have fought back against his more accomplished opponent.
"He opened the match very well and I was struggling a little bit. I like to serve well and I needed to get my percentage up," Cilic said.
"The second set I tried to stay with him and then he gave me a chance. That gave me confidence and it was probably tough for him to break me and I took my chance.
"He lost his concentration and it opened the door for me. I used very good tactics in the third set and played my best tennis in the match."
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