Dinara Safina came from match point down to dump top seed Maria Sharapova out of the French Open as history repeated itself at Roland Garros.
Sharapova led by a set an 5-2 and was just one point from victory at 5-3 in the second set before a stunning turnaround saw Safina move on to a 6-7 (6/8) 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 victory.
The match was something a recurring nightmare for Sharapova as she had suffered a remarkably similar collapse against the same opponent at the same stage of the same tournament in 2006.
On that occasion, Safina recovered from 1-5 down in the final set to triumph.
Safina, the recent winner of the German Open, will now play another Russian, Elena Dementieva, in the quarter-finals.
Sharapova was predictably downbeat after her exit but also conceded Safina's win shouldn't be seen as a surprise.
"I had many opportunities and many chances in the match," she said. "I guess I can say that today was a combination of not taking those chances and getting a little unlucky at times.
"If you don't take the chances that you have it can go in the wrong direction really fast.
"At the end of the day, I played against someone that's had really great success in the last couple of weeks on clay.
"The win against the top players in the tournament she got obviously gave her a tremendous amount of confidence. That really helped her today in certain situations."
Safina, meanwhile, was almost at a loss to explain the turnaround.
"She was 5-2 up. She had match point. It was all in her hands. And then at 5-3 she had match point. Then I hit a winner on her match point.
"Then suddenly it changed.
"I was trying to focus on myself and what I have to do and not to let her dictate to me.
"I guess in the third set is what happened. Maybe she went a little bit down, but then I started not to wait for her mistakes. I had the chance and I had to hit the ball, so you have to focus on yourself."
In a match featuring some terrific baseline rallies, the players traded a break apiece in a serve-dominated opening set.
It was no surprise to see that a tie-break was required to separate the pair and even that could have gone either way.
Two errors from Sharapova handed Safina two set points at 6-4, but the top seed then reeled off the next four points - saving one of the set points with an exquisite drop shot - to leave her compatriot slamming her racquet into the clay in frustration.
Much of the match had been played in steady drizzle and after Safina had secured a break in the opening game of the second set play was suspended.
Upon the resumption she held for a 2-0 lead but the enforced interlude seemed to have sharpened Sharapova's mind and she quickly took control, rattling off five games in a row to move to the brink of victory.
The Australian Open champion was mixing up her shots more now - she even played some wide balls with a left-handed forehand - to good effect and few could have predicted what was to follow.
She served for the match at 5-3 but an excellent return game from Safina, including a backhand down the line to save the match point, proved Sharapova still had work to do.
But the confidence was flowing back into Safina, never the most graceful mover, and she showed all her fighting qualities to level the set and force a second tie-break.
Again the game looked up when Safina fell 5-2 down in the breaker but again she dug deep and won five straight points to send the match into an unexpected decider.
The missed match point must have been weighing heavily on Sharapova's mind but even at the start of the third set you wouldn't have thought so as she came from 40-0 down in the opening game to break Safina's serve once more.
However, Sharapova was then broken to love herself and from that point it all went horribly wrong.
Errors began to flow from the top seed's racquet but were largely absent from Safina's.
Playing some excellent tennis, the 13th seed turned the heat on Sharapova in game six and although three break points were saved, a fourth wasn't.
Sharapova did not win another game and her hopes of claiming the one Grand Slam title she has yet to win were soon over for another year.
Safina's title dream lives on, however, although she is not thinking that the hard part has already been done by eliminating the top seed.
"It's not easy," she said, looking ahead. "Every player is playing really good. It's not that you play the number one in the world and then suddenly there is nobody else left in the draw.
"I mean, the next girl is also top-10 player, Elena, and she's playing really good at the moment.
"I just played her in the last tournament I played, Berlin, and it was three sets. She's a very tough opponent."
Sharapova left the arena with boos ringing in her ears - not the first time she's got on the wrong side of the Roland Garros crowd - but afterwards she played down its significance.
"I can't please everyone," she said. "It's not my job description.
"I'm an athlete. I go out there and I fight my heart out. I mean, they paid for the ticket to watch me, so they must appreciate me on some level, right?"
Sharapova's exit in the last 16 means that she could lose her new world number one ranking but when asked about this, her reply was glib.
"Boo-hoo," she replied, with more than a hint of sarcasm.
"Believe me, when I got off the court that wasn't the first thing on my mind."
Dementieva booked her place in the quarter-finals with victory over Vera Zvonareva in a see-saw encounter.
Dementieva, who reached the final at Roland Garros four years ago, overcame a mid-match slump to secure a 6-4 1-6 6-2 win.
The other side of the draw were unable to complete their matches, rain having disrupted the schedule earlier in the day.
Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova led Victoria Azarenka 6-2 2-2 when play was suspended due to fading light, while Kaia Kanepi and Petra Kvitova were level at one set all.
In the men's singles, Roger Federer will play Fernando Gonzalez in the quarter-finals after both players recorded straight-sets wins in round four.
World number one Federer was given a decent workout by home hope Julien Benneteau but turned up the heat at just the right times to win 6-4 7-5 7-5.
Benneteau proved an awkward customer, but Federer was able to strike at the end of each of the three sets.
His win sets up a last-eight meeting with Chile's Gonzalez, a player who has yet to lose on clay in 16 matches this year.
The 24th seed proved too good for American Robby Ginepri, winning 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 6-1.
Federer is looking forward to the challenge of becoming the man to end that run.
He said: "I didn't think I had my best serving day today, unfortunately. But the last three have been good, so I hope the next one is going to be OK again, as well.
"All in all, I'm very happy with the way I'm playing, and I'm looking forward to my next-round match against Gonzalez."
Meanwhile, Gonzalez knows he will have a battle on his hands against the Swiss, a player he has beaten just once in 11 attempts.
"I don't really know if I can win against him this time or not,'' Gonzalez said of the 12-time grand slam winner.
"I think what Roger has done is exceptional, outstanding. Not many players could have done that.
"I don't have a really good record against Roger, but we play many good matches and I really enjoy it. After him, there's nobody else. He's number one and you always have nothing to lose.''
Gael Monfils kept the French flag flying, beating Ivan Ljubicic in four sets to reach his first-ever Grand Slam quarter-final.
Monfils succeeded where four of his compatriots failed, winning his fourth-round clash 7-6 (7/1) 4-6 6-3 6-2.
The 21-year-old progresses to a meeting with fifth seed David Ferrer.
Ferrer came through a ding-dong battle with Radek Stepanek, eventually winning 4-6 6-2 1-6 6-3 6-3.
There was mixed fortunes for Britain's representatives in the doubles competitions on Monday.
Jamie Murray and mixed doubles partner Liezel Huber progressed to the quarter-finals without taking to the court as scheduled opponents Yan Zi and Mark Knowles withdrew.
However, Ross Hutchins' men's doubles run came to end at the third-round stage when he and partner Stephen Huss went down 6-4 5-7 7-5 to Russians Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov.
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