Andy Murray falls in Rome

By Paul Virgo

ROME (Reuters) - Andy Murray's Rome Masters campaign floundered at the first hurdle when he lost 1-6 6-3 7-5 to Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco on Wednesday, but Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer enjoyed comfortable wins.

Spain's world number one Nadal, who like Murray and the other top seeds had a bye into round two, beat Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-2 6-3, while Federer progressed with a 6-4 6-4 win over Ivo Karlovic.

British fourth seed Murray looked in total control as he fired some cracking winners from deep when running away with the opening set.

But Monaco, who put up a good fight against the Scot in Miami last month, took advantage of some sloppy shots to roar back.

The 21-year-old Murray twice broke back in the second set of a match postponed on Tuesday due to rain but he could not recover after losing his serve again in its eighth game.

It was almost an identical story in the deciding set, with Murray slicing the ball into the net to concede the match and allow the Argentine to set up a third-round clash with 15th seed Marin Cilic.

The Rome crowd briefly had hope of seeing their man spring another surprise when Seppi took Nadal's serve in the first game with a big forehand return.

But the Spaniard hit back with three breaks of his own in the first set and another in the second to march on to an encounter with Swede Robin Soderling.