Top seed Pete Sampras saw his clay court nightmares return to haunt him here on Wednesday when he bowed out to unseeded Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale in straight sets in the Hamburg Masters.
Di Pasquale managed a break in either set to win their second-round encounter 6-4, 6-4 in 78min.
The Frenchman will now face Romania's Andrei Pavel, who won 6-4, 6-4 against Spanish 15th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.
With the departures of Sampras and Ferrero seven seeds have already bit the dust at the tournament, the fifth in this year's Masters series.
"I wasn't sure quite what to expect but I decided to go on the attack," said Di Pasquale, ranked 53 on the ATP computer, afterwards.
"I wanted to try to put him under pressure and force him into making mistakes," he added.
Sampras, whose preparations for the French Open in two weeks - the only Grand Slam he has yet to win - now lie in ruins.
The American surrendered his serve in the seventh game of the opening set, then found himself broken to love as Di Pasquale, finding the lines with a welter of brilliant returns, moved 4-3 ahead in the second set.
From that point there was no way back as Sampras slipped and slithered in the heavy conditions exacerbated by heavy rain earlier.
"The conditions really suited my game," said Di Pasquale. "It's obviously not his best surface and everything came together for me. This is my biggest success," said 21-year-old Casablanca-born Di Pasquale, who reached the quarter-final here last year after qualifying.
"He was having problems with his first serves and I waited for a chance to take him out on the second.
"It's a real pleasure to beat him as when I was a kid he was already in the world top ten. I really felt something to come out and see all the people there courtside come to watch such a great player,” -- HAMBURG (AFP)
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