Top seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia crashed out of the French Open in the third round when he lost from two sets up 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 2-6, 3-6 to Tommy Robredo of Spain.
Robredo next goes up against either Gaston Gaudio of Argentina or three-times winner Gustavo Kuerton of Brazil for a place in the quarter-finals.
Seldom at his best on clay, the 22-year-old Hewitt had looked less than convincing in his first two rounds at Roland Garros, but he seemed to have found his mark in the first two sets against 28th seeded Robredo, winning both comfortably.
But he was made to struggle in the third when the Spaniard broke the Australian serve in the sixth game and held on to take the match into a fourth set.
In what had developed into an evenly-balanced contest, Robredo seeking to match his best-ever performance in a Grand Slam event, again rocked the world's top player by breaking to lead 5-2 and he again served out to level the match.
But the Australian once again showed his boundless energy and determination by stepping up the pace once again in the decider holding his serve and then breaking for 2-0 in the following game when he forced Robredo to net a passing shot with a charge to the net.
The road to the last 16 looked open, but Roberdo was still fighting fit and he hit back to break the Hewitt serve in the fifth game and then levelled at 3-3.
Robredo broke again in the seventh game to pile the pressure on and pumped his hands in the air after saving break points to hold his own serve in the following game.
Hewitt looked lost and he surrendered the match tamely on his next serve hitting the ball long on match point.