Li Na's hopes of successfully defending her French Open title are over after the Chinese player was beaten 3-6 6-2 6-0 by world number 142 Yaroslava Shvedova in the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Li, who defeated Francesca Schiavone in the final last year, looked to be in control of the match in the opening set but the cool and windy conditions did not help her and she succumbed to the greater consistency of Shvedova.
The Kazakh was a quarter-finalist here two years ago, which helped her to climb inside the top 30 in the rankings, but a knee injury and poor form last year saw her tumble to as low as 257 in the world.
Shvedova next faces Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, while Li's defeat means no former champions are left in the women's draw.
Li, the first Asian winner of a grand slam singles title when she defeated Francesca Schiavone 12 months ago, refused to blame the weather conditions.
She said: "It's the same for both players. The weather for me was nothing special. The weather couldn't kill me. I tried to play the ball back into the court, but I couldn't."
Of the result, she added: "It's normal. In tennis there are only two players on the court. The only outcome is to win or to lose. If today I lose the match, I lose. If I win, I win.
"If I lose the match, I have to find the reason why I lost the match. I have to try to work hard the next day and the next week."
Li is not planning to play any tournaments in the build-up to Wimbledon but may ask for a wild card into the AEGON Classic in Birmingham.
Shvedova described the victory as the best of her career, but admitted she did get nervous in the final moments.
The 24-year-old said: "I was just fighting for every ball, and I was trying to focus on what I needed to do. I was thinking a lot about some girls losing here from 5-1 and 5-2 up. I was saying to myself: 'No, no, no, I have to focus. I have to fight, fight, fight, fight.'"
Shvedova, who won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2010 with Vania King, credited coach Emiliano Redondi for helping her turn her singles form around.
She said: "At the beginning of 2011 I had an injury and I had surgery right after Australia. After surgery I recovered very slowly, I came back and my knee was bothering me for half a year.
"And then my coach left, and I had some tough periods mentally, I was very down and lonely. I was playing doubles and I lost all my singles points.
"In September I got a new coach and he has helped me out a lot. For this year we set a goal to get my ranking back, and I have worked hard. I have a great team around me and I am very grateful to them."
