Marseille, France, 18 February 2014 | tennis.com.au

Young Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis has gone down in the first round of the Open 13 in Marseille, France to Slovene Blaz Kavcic.

The 17-year-old, a wildcard into the main draw of the ATP 250 event, fell 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 17 minutes.

Kokkinakis scored three break point opportunities but was unable to convert any as the 116th-ranked Kavcic repeatedly served his way out of trouble.

“Would like to thank @Open13 for the WC this week, hopefully be back next year. Didn’t go well today :/ gotta get better! #practicecourt,” Kokkinakis tweeted.

Kavcic progresses to a second round meeting with top seed Richard Gasquet.