Roger Federer has to cut short his Monte Carlo Masters journey Thursday when the world number two went down 6-4 7-5 to fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round.

World number three Novak Djokovic managed to seal a 6-1, 6-7, 6-0 win over Spain's Albert Montanes before thunderstorms wiped out most of the day's play including top seed Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray's matches in the Monaco city.

Wawrinka, who teamed up with Federer to take Beijing Olympics doubles title, next faces Andreas Beck for a place in the last four after the German qualifier beat Argentine Juan Monaco 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Spain's Fernando Verdasco, seeded seventh, eased past compatriot and 10th seed David Ferrer with a 6-2, 6-1 victory to set up a meeting with Djokovic.

World number four Murray was leading 7-6, 1-0 against Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini while Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti just had time to win the opening game of his match against Nadal when downpour stopped the action.

Argentine David Nalbandian's encounter with Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Italian Simone Bolelli's match against Croatian Ivan Ljubicic were also called off.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2009)