Britain's Andy Murray has bowed out of the French open at the hands of Spaniard Nicolas Almagro at Roland Garros.
The British number one, who had looked to be conquering the red dust surface he dislikes most, slumped to a 6-3 6-7 6-3 7-5 defeat in the third round.
Murray promptly lost his first service game against the Spaniard, who is ranked number 20 in the world.
Almagro, with a series of savage forehands, was demonstrating why he is a rising star in the clay-court world and he duly served out to take the first set when Murray netted a tame forehand.
The Scot struck back in the second set with a tie-break victory and took the initiative in the third when he broke the Almagro serve in the third game - the Spaniard struggling with a tricky lob and putting his response amid the tramlines.
It was an even contest, however, with both men playing fine tennis and in the sixth game Almagro broke back, this time his precise lob doing the damage.
Suddenly the momentum swung the Spaniard's way and he broke
serve again in the eighth game, courtesy of a couple of Murray
volleys which only found the net.
Almagro duly served out to take the set 6-3 and take control
of the match at two sets to one.
Murray lost his service in the first game of the fourth, courtesy of his own wild forehand and some rapier groundstrokes from Almagro.
The Spaniard was in the ascendancy and Murray had to battle back from love-40 in the seventh game with two stupendous volley winners which he picked off his shoe laces.
But the big serves of Almagro were earning him easy points while Murray was continually struggling on his own delivery.
It looked all over when Almagro served for the match in the 10th game but somehow Murray contrived to break back.
A gutsy display was not enough for Murray, however, and he promptly dropped his next service game with another forehand into the net, allowing Almaggro to forge on and take the match.
Earlier three-time champion Rafael Nadal has cruised past Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-3 6-1 to book his place in the last 16 of the French Open.
The Spaniard, bidding to emulate Bjorn Borg by winning a fourth consecutive title at Roland Garros, will face either Russian 15th seed Mikhail Youzhny or Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, seeded 22nd, for a place in the quarter-finals.
The world number two gained the psychological edge on the 26th-seeded Nieminen when he saved four break points in the third game of the first set before stealing his opponent's serve.
Nadal received treatment on a blistered right foot just before the third set but it did not prevent him from wrapping up victory after an hour and 58 minutes on his third match point.