Andy Murray's hopes of breaking into the world's top three are in tatters after a second-round defeat at the Rome Masters to Argentina's Juan Monaco.

The Scot, who needed to progress past the second round to pick up any ranking points in his pursuit of world number three Novak Djokovic, slumped to a three-sets defeat 6-1 3-6 5-7.

Murray proved victorious in his last clash with Monaco in Miami earlier this year but the British No.1 could not keep pace with him this time around and crashed out in round two in Rome for the second consecutive year.

The 21-year-old Brit flew out of the blocks and raced into a 5-0 lead in the opening set as a comfortable victory and place in the next round beckoned.

Monaco finally broke his duck to make it 5-1 but as Murray's serve sparkled, the Scot eased his way into a one-set lead over his opponent.

The 25-year-old Argentine fought back in the second set and took 2-0 and 4-2 leads before racing to take the set 6-3 as Murray's serve faultered.

The ascendancy was with the world number 58 in the third set and while Murray battled back to 5-5, having lost his serve, Monaco proved too strong for the world number four to book his place in round three.