Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Roger Federer failed to reach the second week at the French Open for the first time in 10 years, as Ernests Gulbis knocked out the 2009 champion with a five-set win in the fourth round on Sunday.
Gulbis nearly dropped the first two sets, but fought off two set points in the second set and went on to capture a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over the 17-time Grand Slam champion.
The 18th-seeded Latvian has carried the momentum from last week's win in Nice into this week and will play in his second career Grand Slam quarterfinal. His first came six years ago, also at Roland Garros, and resulted in a loss to Novak Djokovic. He had not been past the second round in the French capital since.
Federer, meanwhile, failed to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time since falling in the third round to Gustavo Kuerten in 2004. After that loss, he'd reached 36 straight Grand Slam quarterfinals before last year's stunning second-round exit at Wimbledon and has now made the round of eight just once in his last four major championships.
The fourth-seeded Swiss superstar rallied from a break down to win the first set Sunday, then failed to convert a pair of set points while Gulbis was serving at 4-5 in the second. Gulbis was then unable to convert a pair of break points in the next game, but won the final five points of the second-set tiebreaker -- the last two on Federer forehand errors -- to even the match.
Gulbis, with a dominant backhand and solid groundstrokes, grabbed a 4-2 lead in the third set with a break in the sixth game, similar to the first set, but this time he consolidated the break with a hold of serve and broke again in the following game to take the set.
Federer, though, battled back with a pair of breaks for a 5-2 lead in the fourth. After Gulbis took an injury timeout and re-entered Chatrier Court to a chorus of boos, he broke Federer and held serve before the Swiss star held to force a fifth set.
Gulbis easily won the first game of the fifth and captured the first three points on Federer's serve in the next. Federer won two straight before a forehand error gave Gulbis the break.
It was the only one he needed.
Federer did not force a break point against Gulbis' dominant serve in the final set. Gulbis finished the match with 13 aces and broke Federer seven times to improve to 2-2 lifetime against the 32-year-old veteran.
Gulbis, who previously beat Federer in 2010 at the Italian Masters, will next play sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych.
The Czech veteran notched a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over American John Isner and advanced to the French quarterfinals for only the second time in 11 all-time appearances. The first came in 2010. Isner, meanwhile, was the last American male in the tournament.
Fourth-round action continues Sunday with the second-seeded Djokovic taking on French crowd favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while Canada's Milos Raonic is also in action against Spain's Marcel Granollers.
Earlier Sunday, two third-round matches had to be completed after darkness halted play Saturday.
Andy Murray and Philipp Kohlschreiber were knotted at 7-7 in the fifth set Saturday when play was stopped. The seventh-seeded Scot managed to advance with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 12-10 triumph.
Also Sunday, Spain's Fernando Verdasco completed a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet. That match was stopped Saturday at 2-2 in the third set.
