Australia’s Matthew Ebden has suffered a round of 16 defeat at the Ecuador Open, going down 6-4 6-4 to Italian Paolo Lorenzi.

Lorenzi needed just a single break of serve in each set and didn’t face a break point as he marched into the quarter-finals for the third-straight year.

The third-seeded Lorenzi is shooting for his second ATP singles title.

Last year, he became the oldest first-time ATP champion at 34 by winning in Austria.

Rajeev Ram of the US. made it to his first ATP quarter-finals on clay by winning his first match-up with Nicolas Kicker of Argentina 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Lorenzi and the unseeded Ram will meet in the quarter-finals.