Unwell Ferrero suffers shock loss

Ferrero was suffering with an illness in Valencia

Second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero crashed to a straight-sets defeat by Alberto Martin in the second round of the Valencia Open on Thursday.

Ferrero, who lost 6-4 6-2, blamed a fever for the poor quality of his display against his fellow Spaniard.

"I was tired from halfway through the first set, so I tried to win it by being more aggressive in the second set, but I couldn't," he said.

Fifth seed Gilles Simon lost 6-3 4-6 6-1 to Spain's Marcel Granollers-Pujol.

Meanwhile, Russia's Evgeny Korolev recovered from a first-set battering to beat Argentina's Sergio Roitman 1-6 7-5 6-0.

Spain's Ivan Navarro Pastor saw off Augustin Gensse 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 and Italy's Potito Starace defeated Pablo Andujar 6-4 1-6 6-3.

David Ferrer, who had been the top-seeded player, withdrew on Wednesday because of a back injury.