Australia's Matthew Ebden has suffered a round of 16 defeat at the Ecuador Open, going down 6-4 6-4 to Italian Paolo Lorenzi.
Lorenzi needed just a single break of serve in each set and didn't face a break point as he marched into the quarter-finals for the third-straight year.
The third-seeded Lorenzi is shooting for his second ATP singles title.
Last year, he became the oldest first-time ATP champion at 34 by winning in Austria.
His chances of going all the way in the tournament were boosted when defending champion Victor Estrella Burgos sent top seed Ivo Karlovic packing in a tight game decided by three tie-breaks.
The Dominican Republican beat the big-serving Croat 6-7 (9-7) 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (10-8) to reach the quarter-finals.
Earlier Rajeev Ram of the US made it to his first ATP quarter-finals on clay by winning his first match-up with Nicolas Kicker of Argentina 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
The unseeded Ram will meet Lorenzi in the quarter-finals.
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