Federer falls in Monte Carlo

Roger Federer has crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters at the quarter-final stage following a straight-sets defeat to Jurgen Melzer.

The Swiss world number three, who has not tasted victory in 10 visits to the clay-court event, was stunned 6-4 6-4 by his Austrian counterpart.

Federer made 24 unforced errors throughout the one hour 44-minute contest and Melzer will now play David Ferrer on Saturday for a place in the final.

After impressive straight-sets triumphs over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marin Cilic en route to the last eight, Federer came into his clash with seventh-seed Melzer as strong favourite.

Top form

However, the usually ruthless 16-time Grand Slam champion failed to take any of the seven break point opportunities he opened up, and as a result crashed out of the tournament.

The Austrian southpaw broke for a 3-2 lead in the first set when Federer netted the first of a number of easy forehands.

Melzer, who overcame ninth-seed Nicolas Almagro the previous evening, then immediately saved a break point on his own serve before taking the set.

On the ropes, Federer lost his serve for a second time in the third game of the second set, and, despite forcing plenty of opportunites to break back, Melzer dug in for his first ever win over the Swiss.

An understandably elated Melzer told Sky Sports afterwards: "I never doubted that I could win. He had plenty of break points but I kept calm, played my game and put my first serve in and attacked his forehand.

"I played the break points really well."

An intriguing semi-final showdown with fourth-seed Ferrer now awaits Melzer after the Spaniard eased past Serbia's Viktor Troicki earlier in the day.

Ferrer was on top form during a routine 6-3 6-3 triumph over the Serb.