Second seed Tommy Haas has crashed out of the US Clay Court Championships, suffering a straight sets defeat to Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania.
The German veteran – who had inflicted a shock defeat on world No.1 Novak Djokovic at the Miami Masters last month – was sent tumbling out 6-3 6-3 at the River Oaks Country Club.
In other matches on Thursday, Nicolas Almagro continued his dominance of Frenchman Gael Monfils on clay by rallying past the former world number seven 2-6 6-0 6-3 in their second round tie.
Almagro, of Spain, has now won three of five career meetings against Monfils, including all three times they have met on the clay surface.
Almagro finished with three aces, one double fault and won 74 per cent of his first-serve points in the 85-minute match.
Almagro advances to the third round where he will face Paolo Lorenzi, who won an all-Italian duel by beating Flavio Cipolla 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
Last year’s Houston runner-up John Isner was also a second-round winner on Thursday.
The fifth-seeded six-foot-nine Isner outlasted fellow American Jack Sock 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) in two-and-a-half hours. The two big servers combined for 28 aces, including 15 from Isner.
Also, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ousted sixth-seeded fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-2 in just over an hour.
American wild card Rhyne Williams beat Croatian lucky loser Ivo Karlovic 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3), who blasted 28 aces to Williams’ seven.