Champion Juan Carlo Ferrero tumbled out of the Madrid Masters on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat to an aggressive Luis Horna.
Top seed Tim Henman finally won a match at the tournament, after two winless previous visits to the Spanish capital, producing a classy display to beat Spain's Albert Costa 6-4, 6-2.
A nervous looking Ferrero, playing with a new racket, lost his opening service game to Horna and rarely seemed capable of competing with the Peruvian, who closed out the first set in relentless style.
The former world number one began the second set with a double fault, and Horna moved into a 4-0 lead despite needing medical attention after appearing to twist an ankle in the second game.
Ferrero managed to hold his third service game but lacked the confidence to stage a recovery, and serving to stay in the match netted a ball to hand Horna victory.
"When I missed two or three shots I started feeling uncomfortable and lost my confidence," said Ferrero, who had a bye through to the second round.
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It was a bad day for the home crowd, as Marat Safin sent another Spanish hope, Feliciano Lopez, out of the tournament with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 victory while Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan beat Alex Corretja, another Spaniard, 7-6, 6-3.
Fifth-seeded Chilean Nicolas Massu lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to American Taylor Dent.
Britain's Henman, returning after nearly a month away from the circuit, went out to a 5-1 lead in the first set and had a minor wobble before taking it 6-4.
Costa held his opening service game in the second set but Henman's greater consistency took him to victory in one hour 25 minutes.
"I don't think I was particularly focused on each and every point but I managed to close out that first set and I felt like my confidence grew after that," said Henman.
Henman will face Ivan Ljubicic, who defeated Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-3, 6-0. The Briton has only beaten the big- serving Croatian once in three matches.
"These will be conditions that suit him (Ljubicic) well," said Henman. "He's got a huge, huge serve. I think that emphasises the point that I have to take care of my serve because there probably won't be too many opportunities."
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