Murray slumps to shock defeat in Monte Carlo

Andy Murray crashes out at Monte Carlo Masters.

Roger Federer will return to second in the ATP standings next week after Andy Murray collapsed to a 1-6, 2-6 third-round loss to Stanislas Wawrinka at the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday.

A shell-shocked Murray committed 24 unforced errors as he lost to Federer's Swiss compatriot, seeded 13th, in 58 minutes.

Murray, a quarterfinalist here a year ago, went nil for two on break points and lost his own serve five times in the rout which sends him back to the practice court for the next fortnight in hopes of repairing his game for the Madrid Masters in early May.

"I made a lot of mistakes, 24 unforced errors is far too many. That's a set's worth. That's where half the points went," said the Scot who had regained the No. 2 ranking on the strength of his win at the Miami Masters.

Rafael Nadal was on track for an historic ninth straight title at the event as the third seed won his 44th match in a row at the venue, beating German Philip Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-4.

 Nadal gees himself up.

The Spanish great lifted his record at the seaside Country Club to 46-1 at a tournament where he suffered his lone defeat in 2003 against Argentine Guillermo Coria.

Nadal will next line up in the quarterfinals today against Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Germany's Florian Mayer with an identical 6-2, 6-4 scoreline.

Nadal advanced in 80 minutes and earned revenge for his only loss to Kohlschreiber from 10 meetings, a grass quarterfinal loss last summer in Halle.

This win was his 16th in a row after successive titles this season in Indian Wells and Acapulco. "It was a great win for me," said Nadal, who follows the same script for every victory. "I'm very happy."

"Every match is a new one for me, every day is completely different. We will see what goes on tomorrow," he added.

Unpredictable Italian Fabio Fognini sprung a surprise on fourth seed Tomas Berdych, dismissing the Czech 6-4, 6-2 while French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overwhelmed Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-0.

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