Richard Gasquet's shaky form continued on Monday when the French ninth seed was beaten 4-6, 1-6 by Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna in the first round of the Rome Masters.

Gasquet, the only world top 10 player not to have reached an ATP quarterfinal this year, fell apart after losing his serve with two consecutive double faults midway through the first set.

Later on Monday, Britain's Andy Murray faces Argentine qualifier Juan Martin del Potro.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who is aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title, have byes to the second round along with the other top eight seeds.

Former world number one Marat Safin, a wildcard entry, meets Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in the late game.

Hesh, Paes get bye

Meanwhile, India’s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi received first-round byes in their respective doubles  matches here.

While Bhupathi and his Bahamas partner Mark Knowles will face the winners of the match between Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco of Spain and the Russian-Croatian team of Igor Andreev and Ivan Ljubicic in the second round , Paes and Australian Paul Hanley will be up against the winners of the tie between Luis Horna of Peru and Argentine Juan Monaco and the Polish duo of Manisuz Furstenberg and Marcon Matkowski.

Bhupathi and Knowles have been seeded fourth in the tournament, Leander and Hanley are the eighth seeds.