Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt was dumped out of the Nasdaq-100 Open Masters Series event by Andrei Pavel. The unseeded Romanian overcame the Australian 17th seed 6-4 7-5 to reach the fourth round. Hewitt had 10 double-faults, with three in the final game.
Third seed Guillermo Coria of Argentina wobbled against compatriot Juan Ignacio Chela before winning 6-2 3-6 6-2.
He next faces French qualifier Julien Benneteau, who beat Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 7-6 (7/3) 6-1.
Hewitt struggled to find his service rhythm throughout the match and his misery was compounded by his inability to cope with Pavel's powerful groundstrokes.
"He played well but I felt like I didn't quite take my opportunities when I had them," said the Australian.
"I put myself into a position where I had to try to claw my way out and I wasn't quite able to do that - it's disappointing."
Elswhere, Tim Henman's conqueror Jurgen Melzer lost 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 to Todd Martin, Sebastien Grosjean beat Thierry Ascione 6-3 4-6 7-6 (7/1) and Nicolas Kiefer beat Robby Ginepri 7-6 (7/3) 3-6 6-4.
MMIX
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