MONACO — The struggles on the court continue for Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The Montreal native ranked No. 9 in the world was upset 6-2, 7-6 (2) by Italy's Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday in the second round of the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters.

It's the latest in a string of defeats to players well below Auger-Aliassime in the ATP rankings. Musetti came into the match with a world ranking of 83.

Auger-Aliassime has just one win over his last four tournaments since a run to the final in Marseille that capped an impressive start to the season. That victory came against No. 436 Elliot Benchetrit in the opening round of an ATP 250 tournament last week in Marrakech, Morocco.

Otherwise, he was bounced in the second round at Indian Wells by No. 47 Botic van de Zandschulp, lost in the second round of the Miami Masters to No. 48 Miomir Kecmanovic and was defeated in the second round at Marrakech by No. 65 Alex Molcan.

In Wednesday's match, Auger-Aliassime failed to defend any of the opportunistic Musetti's three break points. He also struggled with his serve, landing just 63 per cent of his first serves, and claiming 65 per cent of available points when he was accurate.

He claimed just 54 per cent of second serve points.

The slump comes after a highly successful run by Auger-Aliassime that saw him help Canada win the ATP Cup, move on to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and win his first ATP title in Rotterdam before advancing to the final in Marseille.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2022.