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The Scot seemed frustrated at times with an erratic showing and was warned by the referee for foul language at one point. He recovered two breaks in the first set only to fail to hold his serve in the last game and lose it 7-5.

Murray gradually regained concentration in the second, taking it 6-4. He had broken serve to go 1-0 up in the third when his opponent conceded in evident pain with a back problem.

Argentinian Del Potro had taken the first set 7-5, before Murray levelled the match by breaking twice take the seocnd set 6-4.

After grabbing his third consecutive break to go one game up in the third, Del Potro suffered a recurrence of a back injury that has plagued him in recent times.

After five minutes of being treated while sat down, seemingly in agony, Del Potro pulled out of the tournament.

Murray earned himself a meeting with Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, who defeated former world number one Marat Safin 6-7 6-2 6-1.

Roger Federer will face his bogeyman Guillermo Canas in the second round after the Argentine beat Italian wildcard Gianluca Naso 6-7 6-3 6-2.

Canas is one of the few players on tour to have a winning record against the world number one -- triumphing in three of their five clashes -- but on Monday he had to work hard to book a meeting with the Swiss.

After trading breaks midway through the first set, Naso continued to pile on the pressure and eventually bagged the first set 10-8 in the tie-break.

The Argentine capitalised on Naso's unforced errors in the second set to get the break and then cruised home.

Federer has a bye to the second round along with Rafael Nadal, who is aiming for his fourth consecutive Rome Masters title.

Richard Gasquet's shaky form continued when the French ninth seed was beaten 6-4 6-1 by Peruvian qualifier Luis Horna in the first round.

Gasquet, the only world top 10 player not to have reached an ATP quarter-final this year, fell apart after losing his serve in the seventh game of the first set with two consecutive double faults.

"Today I played maybe my worst match of the year," Gasquet said.

"After I started losing the first set I lost all my confidence and I was really lost on court. Anyone here could have beaten me today."

Belgium's Steve Darcis will meet Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic after edging past Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5 7-6.

Argentina's Juan Monaco, the 13th seed, beat Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-0 6-4 and will meet Igor Andreev after the Russian defeated Korean Lee Hyung-taik 6-4 7-5.

Reuters