Stephen Gallacher's loss to Larrazabal - his 10th consecutive singles defeat across six different match play competitions - meant the Scot could not reach the last eight even if he beat Dubuisson, who could face Ryder Cup partner Graeme McDowell in the knockout stages.

McDowell's defeat to Mikko Ilonen means all four members of the Larson Group could still advance to the next round, with Joost Luiten top on four points ahead of McDowell and Ilonen on two.

France's Alexander Levy has lost both his matches so far, but a win over Ilonen and a victory for Luiten over McDowell would take McDowell, Ilonen and Levy into a play-off.

The situation was equally tight in the McCormack Group, with Jonas Blixt, Paul Casey, Patrick Reed and Jamie Donaldson all on two points, with Donaldson and Reed renewing their Ryder Cup rivalry in Friday's opening match.

Reed, who was unbeaten on his cup debut at Gleneagles, beat Casey 2&1 on Thursday while Donaldson saw off Blixt 3&2.

In the Palmer Group, Francesco Molinari could count himself unlucky to be out of the running for the quarter-finals, the Italian being seven under par in losing 2&1 to Henrik Stenson, who was eight under for his last nine holes.

That took Stenson joint top of the group with George Coetzee on three points, the South African defeating 2013 runner-up Thongchai Jaidee 2&1.

Stenson faces Jaidee this afternoon with Coetzee - a late replacement for the injured Thomas Bjorn - up against Molinari.