A string of errors put world number two Andy Murray out of the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday when he lost 6-1 6-2 to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round.

Fourth seed Tomas Berdych was also beaten at the first big claycourt event of the season, while Rafael Nadal calmly continued his bid for a ninth consecutive crown with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Philipp Kohl-schreiber of Germany.

Top seed Novak Djokovic, who made a late call to participate after recovering from a sprained ankle, overcame a second opening set scare of the week to move past Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6 6-2 6-2.

Briton Murray, who has repeatedly said he needs time to find his feet on the red clay, looked frustrated on court and picked up only eight points on serve in the first set.

“I made a lot of mistakes – 24 unforced errors is far too many ... that’s where half the points went,” Murray told a news conference.

“I started hitting the ball shorter, then he was able to dictate the play,” added Murray, who made the last eight last year and is now set to slip to third behind Roger Federer in the ATP rankings.

The 17th-ranked Wawrinka, who had won their two previous encounters on the surface, reached the quarter-finals for the second year in a row and will now face Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who overwhelmed Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-3 6-0.

Czech Berdych, a semi-finalist last year, was humbled 6-4 6-2 by Italy’s Fabio Fognini who also beat him in the first round in 2009.