Fourth seed David Ferrer navigated his way into the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals thanks to a 6-1 6-3 win over Canada's Milos Raonic on Thursday but Tomas Berdych hit the rocks with defeat by Ivan Ljubicic.
Raonic, who rocketed from 156th in the rankings at the start of the year to 34th, had no answer to the Spaniard's guile as Ferrer sailed to victory with giant cruise liner the Queen Mary 2 docked in the bay just behind the Monte Carlo Country Club.
Czech fifth seed Berdych had no such luck in round three and was cast aside by rampant Croat Ljubicic 6-4 6-2.
World number one and holder Rafa Nadal is next up on centre court against local favourite Richard Gasquet before second seed Roger Federer graces the clay on a cold and cloudy day against 15th-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic.