Caroline Wozniacki's wait for a first grand slam title goes on after she was beaten 6-1 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 by Kaia Kanepi in the third round of the French Open.
The Dane has had a poor year, dropping from world number one to number nine, but had looked in decent form in her opening two matches at Roland Garros.
Kanepi, a powerful Estonian seeded 23rd, had far too much for Wozniacki for most of the first two sets, while the 21-year-old also lost her cool, vociferously disputing a line call with both the umpire and then the supervisor.
But from 6-1 5-1 Kanepi began to get tense and Wozniacki let loose, saving two match points in the eighth game of the second set and then fighting back to take it on a tie-break.
She could not carry the momentum into the decider, though, and again found herself trailing 5-1.
Kanepi missed one more match point when she served a double fault, but this time there was no way back for Wozniacki, the Estonian finally getting the job done on her fifth chance after two minutes short of three hours.
Wozniacki, who has recently begun working with former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, said: "It's disappointing to lose, especially in a round like this. Of course I'd hoped for more but it wasn't possible this time.
"I definitely fought to the end, I didn't give up and I can be happy with that. But it wasn't enough."
The 21-year-old pulled no punches in her criticism of the officials, saying: "When the ball is clearly out, I don't think there should be anything to argue about.
"If they cannot see, they should have other umpires on the lines or have HawkEye on these courts. It's a disgrace that mistakes like this are made."
