Toucan

British number one Andy Murray has been knocked out of the Rome Masters in the second round by Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

The Scot, seeded 16th in the Italian capital, was inconsistent throughout and slumped to a 6-2 7-6 defeat.

Giving up two breaks of serve in the first set, Murray failed to make much of an impact into Wawrinka's own service games as he struggled to get to grips with the match.

A couple of flashing groundstrokes aside, the 21-year-old looked largely out of touch and out of form as the more composed Wawrinka edged the contest early on.

Murray looked to be recovering somewhat in the second set as he earned an early break of serve, but the Swiss' return game always looked dangerous as he forced seven break points throughout the set.

The Scot's resistance and fighting spirit ensured he kept himself in the contest by saving six of the seven but he was unable to stem the tide throughout and was broken himself midway through the set.

In the tiebreak it was nip and tuck, but Wawrinka's consistency took its toll on the wayward Murray.

And it was several mistakes from the Scot that eventually handed his opponent a decisive advantage, a 7-6 victory in the set and a third-round encounter with Juan Carlos Ferrero, who earlier knocked out the favourite Rafael Nadal.

© Adfero Ltd