Heather Watson suffered a heavy defeat as she crashed out of the Italian Open on Wednesday, while several other top seeds suffered similar fates in Rome.
British No.1 Watson was beaten 6-1 6-1 by 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro in their second round match on a day that also saw defeats for fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic.
Watson was broken in the opening game by Navarro before the Spaniard rapidly wrapped up the first set with two further breaks of serve.
The Brit wasted two valuable break points in the third game of the second set, which allowed Navarro to seize control and hold serve, before claiming the final three games to seal victory.
Wozniacki went down 6-2 7-6(2) in her second round clash with Victoria Azarenka, which lasted almost two hours on court. Ivanovic took the opening set against qualifier Daria Gavrilova but failed to hold on as she was beaten twice on a tie-break in a 5-7 7-6(2) 7-6(7) defeat.
Ninth seed Angelique Kerber suffered a comprehensive 6-3 6-3 loss to Irina-Camelia Begu but there would be no upset for second seed Simona Halep, who dispatched Alison Riske 6-3 6-0.
Petra Kvitova, fresh from winning the Madrid Open, continued her good form with a hard-fought 6-3 4-6 7-6(1) victory against Karin Knapp. The Italian wildcard worked herself within two points of a famous victory when 5-2 up in the deciding set, but Kvitova hit back and overpowered her opponent to claim a spot in the next round.
Sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard is also through to the third round after a 6-3 6-4 win against Zarina Diyas, while eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova had to come from a set down to beat Kristina Mladenovic 4-6 6-3 6-1.
Alexandra Dulgheru shocked 12th seed Lucie Safarova with a 1-6 6-4 7-6(6) win and Venus Williams beat Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3.
Elsewhere, 13th seed Sara Errani was also a big name faller as she was beaten 6-4 6-4by American qualifier Christina McHale. Bojana Jovanovski, another qualifier, got the better of 15th seed Madison Keys with a 6-4 1-6 6-3 triumph.