Defending champion Paul-Henri Mathieu crashed out of the Gstaad Open after suffering a third straight defeat to Marin Cilic.
Defending champion comes unstuck against familiar foe
Defending champion Paul-Henri Mathieu crashed out of the Gstaad Open after suffering a third straight defeat to Marin Cilic.
Mathieu and Cilic have been paired together six times this season in the space of three months with the Frenchman winning the first three games at Miami, Munich and Queen's.
However since his win at the Stella Artois, Mathieu has now lost at Nottingham, Wimbledon and Switzerland.
Cilic made it three wins on the bounce with a 6-3 6-4 victory to reach the third round.
"There was nothing I could do, he played well above his ranking," said Mathieu.
Disappointed
"I'm terribly disappointed to have lost so early, it hurts even more as a defending champion.
"He serves so well that there were not a lot of rallies. It was tough to have such a match so early, but that's the luck of the draw.
"After he beat me twice on grass, the high altitude here (800 metres) didn't hurt his kind of game at all."
Cilic now faces Russian seventh seed Igor Andreev in the next stage.
Andreev came through his second-round clash against Florent Serra unscathed, recording a 7-5 6-4 victory.
The Russian, who lost the 2004 final here against Roger Federer, fired down a dozen aces to overwhelm the 77th-ranked Serra.
Wawrinka victory
Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka needed a deciding tie-break to defeat Swiss countryman Stephane Bohli.
The 23-year-old Wawrinka, competing on home soil for the first time since cracking the world's top 10 in MAy, came through 7-6 (7/6) 5-7 7-6 (7/3).
His quarter-final opponent will be eighth seed Argentine Guillermo Canas, who advanced when Kristof Vliegen withdrew from their second-round match due to illness.
