Murray, Wawrinka bite the dust in Monte Carlo Masters

Murray, who suffered an elbow injury in March and made his return from a fiveweek layoff on Wednesday after a first-round bye, won the opening set in 48 minutes before losing concentration. 

Left-hander Ramos, ranked 24th in the world and the 15th seed, ripped through the second set in 36 minutes and refused to give up after the Scot had romped to a 4-0 advantage in the third with victory beckoning. 

The Spaniard won four games in a row before Murray, his serve misfiring, applied some late pressure. But Ramos was implacable as he won the next two with back-to-back breaks and served for the match. 

Murray saved one match point before hitting a return into the net to hand Ramos an impressive victory over his top-ranked opponent in the first European claycourt tournament of the season. 

Later, Stan Wawrinka crashed out in a day of shocks. Wawrinka lost to Pablo Cuevas 6-4 6-4 and the Uruguyan will now take on Frenchman Lucas Pouille for a place in the semi-finals, after a win in the third round at the first clay court Masters 1000 event of the year.