Andy Murray's Rome Masters campaign floundered at the first hurdle when the British fourth seed lost 1-6 6-3 7-5 to Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco. Murray looked in total control on Wednesday as he fired some cracking winners from deep when running away with the first set.
But Monaco, who put up a good fight against Murray last month when the Scot was on his way to winning the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, took advantage of some sloppy shots to roar back. The 21-year-old Murray twice broke back in the second set of a match postponed on Tuesday due to rain but he could not recover after losing his serve again in its eighth game.
It was almost an identical story in the deciding set, with Murray slicing the ball into the net to concede the match and allow the Argentine to progress into third round. Spain's world number one Rafael Nadal, who like Murray and the other top seeds has a bye into the second round, will be up against Italy's Andreas Seppi later on Wednesday. World number two Roger Federer, yet to win an ATP Tour title this year, starts against Croat Ivo Karlovic.