There was no respite for Alexander Zverev who went out in three sets in the second round of the Marrakech Open on Thursday.
Top-seeded Zverev lost to Jaume Munar 6-7, 6-2, 3-6 after having taken a late wild-card to feature in this tournament. He had earlier made it to the second round after beating Denis Istomin in straight sets.
Munar will now take on Benoit Paire in the quarter-final after the latter overcame fellow Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in straight sets in another second round match.
Zverev, who is ranked third in the world, has shown signs of vulnerabilities in the recent times with his poor showings at the Sunshine Masters. At Indian Wells, he was knocked out in the third round and it went even more pear-shaped at the Miami Masters where he went out in the first match he played against David Ferrer.
The clay court season was expected to bring some respite for the German but this latest defeat would put question-marks over his immediate future as he looks to carry some confidence into the Monte-Carlo Masters that will be played from next week.
Also advancing into the quarter-finals were Jiri Vesely and Pablo Andujar, who will now face off for a place in the semi-final. Vesely was a straight-set winner over Juan Londero while Andujar overcame seventh seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in a tough contest.
Gilles Simon, who is now the only seeded player left in the competition, will take on Taro Daniel in another quarter-final while another Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will be up against Italian qualifier Lorenzo Sonego to complete the Marrakech Open quarter-final line-up.
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