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World number one Caroline Wozniacki suffered a humiliating loss in the French Open third round and Samantha Stosur joined her at the exit door on a gloomy Friday.
Roger Federer and David Ferrer remained on course for a quarter-final clash in the men's singles but women's top seed Wozniacki was thrashed 6-1, 6-3 by Slovakian 28th seed Daniela Hantuchova and is still seeking her maiden Grand Slam title.
Wozniacki followed world number two Kim Clijsters out of claycourt Grand Slam as the top two seeds failed to advance past the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since 1971.
The Dane looked completely out of sorts under threatening skies on Court Suzanne Lenglen, falling 6-1, 4-0 behind in less than an hour.
Heading for an embarrassingly one-sided loss, Wozniacki broke back but Hantuchova ended her opponent's ordeal after 73 minutes.
Wozniacki, whose best Grand Slam performance was reaching the US Open final in 2009, left the court without looking at the crowd, her eyes staring at the clay.
Australian Stosur, last year's runner-up, could not locate her usual high-kicking serve and punishing forehand as she suffered a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 defeat by Argentine world number 51 Gisela Dulko.
FEELING DIZZY
Defending champion Francesca Schiavone also started slowly but the Italian fifth seed fought back against Chinese Peng Shuai who was forced to quit after feeling dizzy while trailing 6-3, 1-2.
Schiavone will take on former world number one Jelena Jankovic after the Serb ignored Bethanie Mattek-Sands's painted face and thrashed the American 6-2, 6-2.
World number three Federer continued his smooth progress through the tournament in the shadow of Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal, thrashing Serbian 29th seed Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 in just 90 minutes.
Ferrer demolished Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 and the Spanish seventh seed, who has not dropped a set in three matches, will next faces France's Gael Monfils after the ninth seed eased past Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
Local favourite Marion Bartoli beat German prospect Julia Goerges after dropping the first set for the third time in a row and 2009 champion Svetlana Kuztnetsova continued her fine run with a 6-0, 6-4 thrashing of Canada's Rebecca Marino.
Djokovic will take on Juan Martin del Potro later on Friday when the sledgehammer groundstrokes of the Argentine will test the world number two's armour-plated confidence in the most eagerly anticipated match of the tournament so far.
