THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ROME -- The Rome Masters began with an upset Monday when ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet was beaten by Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna 6-4, 6-1 in the first match on centre court. The match was even until the 111th-ranked Horna broke Gasquet late in the first set. The top French player then unravelled, missing 15 forehands and committing 27 unforced errors overall. "After losing the first set, I lost all my confidence," Gasquet said. "I played my worst match of the year." The match lasted exactly one hour, and ended under light rain at the Foro Italico. Also, Steve Darcis of Belgium beat former No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5, 7-6 (5) to set up a meeting with current No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Igor Andreev of Russia defeated Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea 6-4, 7-5, and Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Last year, Gasquet finished in the top 10 for the first time, won a career-high 49 matches and posted his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals. This year, he is the only player in the top 10 yet to reach a quarter-final match. "I'm either way high or way low, and now I'm very low," Gasquet said, adding that he is not enjoying the sport right now. "It's really difficult on the court. I need to win some matches and have fun." Horna beat Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Mischa Zverev of Germany in qualifying. "I knew he was capable, just today anyone could have beaten me," Gasquet said. Wild card Marat Safin of Russia was to play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland later Monday and Guillermo Canas of Argentina was to meet Italian wild card Gianluca Naso with a matchup against top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland at stake. Federer leads a field featuring the top nine players in the rankings, including three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain. Nadal is off to another perfect start to the clay-court season, winning back-to-back titles at the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open. The top eight seeded players have first-round byes in this tuneup for the French Open. The second Grand Slam of the tennis season begins May 25.
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