Ferrero stunned in Rome

Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo caused the biggest upset at the ATP Rome Masters as he knocked former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero out in the first round.

Former world number one handed first round exit by qualifier

Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo caused the biggest upset at the ATP Rome Masters as he knocked former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero out in the first round. The 12th-seeded Spaniard never got a foothold in the game as he was blasted out 6-0 6-3 by the 22-year-old from Bogota Fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes was another unexpected first round casualty as he suffered a 2-6 6-4 6-3 loss against Italian wild card Paolo Lorenzi. Lorenzi will next face 2009 French Open finalist Robin Soderling, the sixth-seeded Swede who lost to Fernando Verdasco in the final of the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell on Sunday. Young Latvian Ernests Gulbis breezed past Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-2 6-2 to set up a second-round date with top seed Roger Federer, who received a first-round bye.

Nadal bye

Third seed Rafael Nadal was also handed a bye to round two, where he will face Philipp Kohlschreiber after the German came from a set down to overcome Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-7 (1/7) 6-1 6-4. Frenchman Julien Benneteau held his nerve in two tie-breaks to edge past 15th-seeded American Sam Querrey 7-6 (8/6) 3-6 7-6 (7/2). Benneteau will play Filippo Volandri in round two after the Italian prevailed 6-4 6-3 against Australian qualifier Peter Luczak 6-4 6-3. Eleventh seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia was made to work hard to progress, beating France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5 6-7 (1/7) 6-0. Fourteenth-seeded American John Isner also took three sets to see off Argentina's Horacio Zeballos 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 respectively, while Frenchman Michael Llodra defeated Germany's Andreas Beck 6-2 3-6 6-4. Elsewhere, 10th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, 16th-seeded Argentinian Juan Monaco, Italy's Potito Starace and Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez were straight-sets winners.