British number two Heather Watson lost the last six games as her six-match winning run came to an end against Monica Niculescu in Indian Wells.
Watson, who won her third WTA title in Monterrey last week, won seven games in a row to lead 2-0 in the third set before Niculescu prevailed 6-4 2-6 6-2.
Her rankings will be hit as she reached the 4th round last year and she'll drop to around 65. She would be hoping to improve that over the next couple of months as last year in the same period she was knocked out in either the first or second rounds of each tournament.