Federer ousted in Gstaad

Gstaad, Switzerland – Roger Federer's tough season continued Thursday with a stunning second-round exit at the Swiss Open.

Playing in Gstaad for the first time since winning the title in 2004, Federer was the top seed and had a bye into the second round. It didn't help, as Germany's Daniel Brands pulled off a surprisingly easy 6-3, 6-4 win.

Since winning the Wimbledon tune-up in Halle earlier this summer for his lone title of 2013, Federer has been beaten by a player ranked outside the top 50 in each of his last three events.

The stunning results began at the All England Club, as Sergiy Stakhovsky eliminated the seven-time Wimbledon champ in the second round. Federico Delbonis then pulled off a shocker in the Hamburg semifinals last week before the latest surprise on Thursday.

Brands lost to Federer in the second round last week in Hamburg. The German won the first set last week before the Swiss star stormed back to advance in three. There was no such rally this week.

The 17-time Grand Slam champ went down in a mere 66 minutes Thursday. He was unable to break Brands, coming up empty in five chances, and had his own serve broken once in each set.

Brands' quarterfinal opponent will be Romania's Victor Hanescu, who was ahead 7-6 (7-2), 3-2 when eighth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut retired with a back injury.

Also Thursday, Dutchman Robin Haase upended third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, 6-2, 6-2. Tipsarevic was last year's Gstaad runner-up, losing to Thomaz Bellucci.

Next up for Haase will be Spain's Marcel Granollers, a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Delbonis.

Friday's other two quarterfinals will feature second-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka against fifth-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez and fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina against sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.