Roger Federer's honeymoon at the Monte Carlo Masters ended abruptly when he went down 6-4, 7-5 to fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round on Thursday. World number three Novak Djokovic made sure he did not suffer the same fate as Federer when he overcame a second set hiccup to tame Spain's Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-7, 6-0. Top seed Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were frustrated by the thunderstorms that wiped out most of the day's play. Wawrinka will face Andreas Beck for a place in the last four after the German qualifier beat Argentine Juan Monaco 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Federer, who has not won a title this year, struggled with his serve and Wawrinka snatched a break on his sixth attempt in the seventh game. He wrapped up the opening set as the 13-time Grand Slam winner netted an easy forehand. Federer dropped serve in the first game of the second set but broke straight back, charging to the net to save another break point at 3-3. The 27-year-old floundered in the 11th game after sending yet another forehand wide as Wawrinka was serving for the match. He had two break points but Wawrinka kept his composure to save them and wrapped up the win on his first match point with a backhand winner down the line. Spain's Fernando Verdasco, seeded seventh, flashed past compatriot and 10th seed David Ferrer with a 6-2, 6-1 victory to set up a meeting with Djokovic. Djokovic was serving for the match leading 6-1, 5-4 but his game unravelled and Montanes pounced. The Serb quickly regained his momentum and handed the unfortunate Spaniard a bagel in the final set. World number four Murray was leading 7-6, 1-0 against Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini when the players were forced back to the locker room because of rain. Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti just had time to win the opening game of his match against Nadal when action was also stopped. Argentine David Nalbandian's encounter with Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Italian Simone Bolelli's match against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic were also called off. Venus loses to Lisicki In South Carolina, Venus Williams was ousted in the third round of the Family Circle Cup by German teen Sabine Lisicki 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Thursday. No. 5-ranked Venus, who won the title the first time she entered in 2004, was outplayed on the green clay by 63rd-ranked Lisicki, the lowest-ranked woman Venus has lost to in 13 months. There were no upsets in other matches, however, as top-seeded Elena Dementieva reached the quarterfinals along with fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli and seventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. Dementieva put away Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-1, 6-1, and Wozniacki, coming off her first title of the year at Ponte Vedra Beach last week, beat 10th-seeded Peng Shuai of China 6-3, 6-4. Bartoli dispatched American qualifier Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-1, and Cibulkova was a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Rodionova for the second time in two weeks. Suarez Navarro advances In Barcelona, fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain advanced to the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open on Thursday by beating France's Emilie Loit 6-2, 7-5. No. 7 Sara Errani of Italy was eliminated by the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-3 on a rain-affected day. Italy's Francesca Schiavone also advanced by beating Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. On Friday, Suarez Navarro will meet Germany's Tatjana Malek, who advanced after France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro retired when trailing 5-0 in the first set of their match.
