Eighth seed Ivan Dodig crashed out of the Stockholm Open in the first round when he was beaten by Fernando Verdasco on Wednesday.
Dodig, a Croatian, looked set to progress to the last 16 of the ATP 250 hard-court event when he won a first-set tie-break, but Spaniard Verdasco had other ideas and stormed back to prevail 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-4.
The left-hander from Madrid, looking to climb back into the top 30 in the world rankings, showed excellent composure to save all six break points that he faced in a tight match.
Next up for Verdasco will be Jarkko Nieminen, who secured a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) win over Benjamin Becker.
Nieminen, 32-year-old Finn and a three-time finalist in this competition, was made to work for his place in round two as his German opponent saved two match points at 5-3 in the final set before Nieminen eventually saw him off in a tie-break.
Third seed Jerzy Janowicz made light work of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in their second-round meeting.
The powerful Pole did not drop a service game in the match as he sauntered to a 6-2, 6-1 victory that secured his place in the quarterfinals.
Frenchman Benoit Paire, seeded sixth after being given a wildcard, took an hour an 10 minutes to beat Pablo Carreno-Busta of Spain 6-4, 6-4 and move into the last eight.
It could have been a different story if Carreno-Busta, ranked 66th in the world, had managed to convert more than one of the seven break points that came his way.
In the other first-round game on Wednesday, Frenchman Kenny De Schepper fired down 13 aces as he beat Swede Markus Eriksson 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.