Jennifer Capriati dumped Serena Williams out of the French Open at the quarter-final stage in Roland Garros today.
In what was a battle between two former champions, Capriati foiled a fightback from the second seed to win 6-3 2-6 6-3 in a rain-interrupted match.
The first stoppage came with Capriati leading 4-3 with a break in the first set. And when the players returned, Capriati flew out of the blocks to take the opening set, breaking the Williams serve to love to open up a one-set lead.
However, Capriati's level dropped and Williams' rose as the second set began.
Williams produced some great defence to win a classic rally in a memorable third game as she secured a double break.
Capriati did get on the board to cut the deficit to 4-1 but after Williams held serve once more to lead 5-1, the rain returned.
Upon the resumption, Williams served out the set with a love service game.
But as the third set got under way, Williams appeared to be troubled by a thigh problem, regularly stretching her leg in a bid to recover.
Capriati gained the first break in the decider to lead 3-1, but Williams decided to go for broke and immediately recovered it with some great returns in the next game.
Crunch time arrived in game eight when Capriati regained the initiative and was left serving for a place in the semi-finals.
And despite a controversial line call which forced match point at 40-30 to be replayed, Capriati held her nerve to move a step closer to adding the title she won here in 2001.
It was a bad on court for the other Williams sibling, Venus, who lost 6-3 6-4 to Russian Anastasia Myskina in her quarter final match.
Myskina, the sixth seed, took advantage of an error-strewn performance from fourth seed Williams to seal victory in one hour 12 minutes and reach her first grand slam semi-final.
Williams, runner-up at Roland Garros in 2002, began slowly as Myskina raced to a 4-1 lead and the Russian took the first set in 28 minutes when Williams fired a forehand over the baseline.
After trading early breaks in a tense second set, Myskina broke serve in the seventh game and held her nerve to serve out for victory two games later.
The 22-year-old Myskina will now meet Capriati in the semi-finals.