The Australian battler, buoyed by his breakthrough win over Daniil Medvedev 24 hours earlier, quickly had that sinking feeling again with a straight-sets, last-16 loss to Frances Tiafoe on Thursday.
De Minaur, looking for the victory that would take him back to the Australian No.1 spot and earn him a quarter-final place in a Masters event for the first time, found himself back in the familiar position of being somewhat outgunned, losing 6-3 7-6 (7-5) in an absorbing contest.
Not that he didn't have his chances to make it another red letter day in his career.
The 23-year-old Sydneysider, demonstrating familiar grit to battle back into the contest, had his opportunity to level the match at a set-all when he served for the second stanza at 5-3 up at Bercy's Accor Arena.
But the American broke back, took the match into a hard-fought tiebreak and struck decisively in the denouement, firing a backhand service return winner off the Australian's second delivery on his second match point.
It felt like another anti-climactic moment for de Minaur, who played so well in that second set only to be denied the chance of surpassing Nick Kyrgios as his country's No.1-ranked men's player next week.
Ultimately, though, his lack of firepower was evident as the in-form Tiafoe blasted down his 34th winner to earn victory in an hour and 40 minutes.
In contrast, de Minaur had managed 18 winners - almost half of his opponent's tally - while they both committed 23 unforced errors.
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