Second seed Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the quarter-final at the French Open for the first time on Sunday night following a 7-6, 6-4 win over the unseeded American Sloane Stephens.
Sabalenka started the first of the eight night matches to feature a tie from the women's draw with gusto.
She surged into a 5-0 lead within 20 minutes against the 2018 finalist who got on the board to make it 5-1 and salvage some pride before an expectant centre court crowd.
But Sabalenka, appearing in the last-16 for the first time in Paris fluffed her lines and dropped serve to lead 5-2. She also squandered three set points on Stephens serve in the eighth game.
Serving for the set a second time at 5-3, she choked again and there was a huge roar from the spectators when Stephens levelled at 5-5.
The American, ranked 30th in the world, faltered while leading 4-2 in the tiebreak to lose it seven points to five.
That the set took Sabaenka just over an hour to pocket appeared a moral victory.
But the 25-year-old from Belarus maintained her game plan of full-blooded hitting.
She claimed Stephens' serve to lead 3-2 and confirmed the advantage without fuss. But she was reeled in for 4-4.
Stephens - with two points to take a 5-4 lead - displayed the frailty that has provoked a fall in the rankings.
The 30-year-old lost four points in a row to cough up her service and give Sabalenka the opportunity to serve for the match after 99 minutes.
She seized the chance without losing a point.
"It was a crazy first set," Sabalenka said in her on-court interview with the former French Open champion Mats Wilander. "I was lucky to win the first set."
Gratitude
For a place in the semi-final, Sabalenka will take on Elina Svitolina following the Ukrainian's straight sets defeat over the ninth seed Daria Kasatkina from Russia on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
"I can't be more thankful for your support," said a tearful Svitolina who is playing in her first tournament after having a child with the flamboyant French tennis star Gael Monfils last October.
After the cheers had subsided, Svitolina added: "I can at last understand what Gael has been feeling all these years."
Elsewhere in the lower half of the women's draw, the 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavyluchenkova came from a set down to beat the 28th seed Elise Mertens.
She will play the Czech Karolina Muchova, a straight sets winner over Elina Avanesyan who emerged from the qualifying rounds.
In the men's draw, top seed Carlos Alcaraz and third seed Novak Djokovic both eased into to the last eight with straight sets wins over Juan Pablo Varillas and Lorenzo Musetti respectively.
Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat the Austrian qualifier Sebastian Ofner in straight sets, will take on Alcaraz on Tuesday while Djokovic will meet the 11th seed Karen Khachanov who needed four sets to dispatch Lorenzo Sonego.
