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Rome - After displaying the confident tennis that lifted him to world number two last year in his Rome Masters opener, Andy Murray struggled again on Thursday, losing 6-3 6-4 to Spain's David Ferrer.
The Briton's poor third-round display suggests he is not out of the woods after snapping a run of three defeats against Italy's Andreas Seppi on Tuesday.
Murray put himself under pressure from the off, getting in fewer than a third of his first serves in the opening set, which 13th seed Ferrer sealed with a sweet drop volley after breaking in the sixth game.
The poor serving infected other parts of Murray's game and he shook himself a few times, apparently baffled by his own ineptitude, before conceding serve again in the seventh game of the second set.
Clay specialist Ferrer served out to beat the world number five on his least favourite surface and set up a quarter-final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
World number two Novak Djokovic progressed too, with a 6-4 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci that was harder than the score suggested.
Djokovic, the 2008 champion, had to come from a break down in each set against the Brazilian, who put up a lively display but at times had trouble keeping his big serve under control.
The Serbian will now meet in-form Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who thrashed him in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters two weeks ago.
Verdasco, fresh from his triumph at last week's Barcelona Open, booked his place in the last eight with a 6-4 7-6 win over his compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
"I don't think I'm the favourite at all. I suppose if I play an aggressive game, then I will have a good chance to win," Djokovic told a news conference when asked about the Verdasco match.
"The last time we played I really didn't feel good on the court. I made a lot of unforced errors and didn't really give the real picture of my game."
Holder Rafael Nadal is aiming to continue his strong form later on Thursday against Romanian Victor Hanescu.
After turfing out world number one Roger Federer on Tuesday, Latvian Ernests Gulbis won a final-set tiebreak to scramble past Italian wild card Filippo Volandri.
Third Round Results:
Novak Djokovic (2), Serbia, def. Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, 6-4 6-4.
Fernando Verdasco (6), Spain, def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain, 6-4 7-6 (2).
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (7), France, def. Santiago Giraldo, Colombia, 6-3 6-4.
Feliciano Lopez, Spain, def. Ivan Ljubicic (11), Croatia, walkover.
Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, def. Filippo Volandri, Italy, 6-2 3-6 7-6 (4).
David Ferrer (13), Spain, def. Andy Murray (4), Britain, 6-3 6-4.
Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland, def. Robin Soderling (5), Sweden, 6-3 6-2.
