Hard-serving Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia upset top seed but error prone Tim Henman of Britain 6-4 4-6 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2.4 million euro ($A4.12 million) Madrid Masters.

The featured night match was No.2 seed Andre Agassi against fellow American Vince Spadea.

Ljubicic got off to a fast start. "I don't have to hit a lot of balls to get in a rhythm," he said.

"With my serve, there are no rallies, at least I'm trying not to have any rallies."

Henman held his own for a while, mixing shots well and racing to the net to take advantage of the taller, less agile Croatian. In the first set, each had three aces and Henman had more winners, 15-9.

But he committed 17 unforced errors to Ljubicic's four, struggling to hold service games he had seemed to wrap up.

"I was so erratic and so inconsistent ... every game was a struggle," Henman said. "My movement, first and foremost, was poor so I never really felt like I was in the right position."

That caught up with him in the deciding 10th game. Henman jumped to a 30-0 lead, then lost three straight points. He saved the first break point, but gave game and set to Ljubicic by drifting out of position to midcourt where he was handcuffed by a forehand bullet.

In the second set, the Briton seemed to find his stride. In game six, he took the lead then gave it up; served an ace to save break point and followed that with a double fault. But two points later, he served another ace for the game.

Henman broke Ljubicic's serve the first and only time in game seven, driving a shot deep and arriving at the net as the Croat's return drove harmlessly into the other side.

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