Insufficiently prepared for the match with the organisers only confirming his eligibility to play a few days earlier, Paradorn was shown the exit by the world No 48-ranked Serra and lost 6-1 7-5 despite blasting down 19 winners and five aces.

The Thai, who made the main draw of the tournament after a series of withdrawals, easily defeated his French opponent 6-3 6-3 four years ago on a hard court in a French challenger event.

But on clay it was a different story. He looked sluggish on the slow surface as he dropped two service games to trail 4-0 in the first set. He managed to finally get on the scoreboard at 4-1 after smashing an ace onto the service line. But he was able to resist the Frenchman and lasted only 22 minutes before losing the first set 6-1.

The Thai found his momentum in the second set and stayed in the rallies longer. He secured a break in the third game and led 4-2, but then served two double faults to let Serra back into the game at 4-4.

Serra served to go lead at 5-4, but Paradorn held to level at 5-5. The Thai challenge was over from then on as he committed his 38th unforced error to lose the match after 70 minutes.