Chinese star Li Na has crashed out of Wimbledon in another twist to her love-hate relationship with the tournament while Novak Djokovic made the last 16, but only after surviving a horror fall.
There were no such problems for defending champion Andy Murray, however, as he breezed into the last 16 for the eighth time in nine years.
Second seed Li lost 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/5) in the third round to Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic with the defeat coming hot on the heels of her shock first round exit at the French Open.
In eight appearances at Wimbledon, the 32-year-old Li has still never got beyond the quarter-finals.
Victory for Zahlavova Strycova represented a first last-16 spot at a major for the world number 43 in her 32nd Grand Slam appearance.
Top seed Djokovic survived a shoulder injury scare to reach the fourth round for the eighth time with a 6-4 6-2 6-4 win over Gilles Simon, his seventh straight victory over the Frenchman.
Djokovic, the 2011 champion, needed a medical timeout after hurting his left shoulder in a spectacular diving attempt to reach a Simon drive in the third set on Centre Court.
But the Serb overcame the scare to set up a clash with French 14th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the quarter-finals.
“It was a sharp pain when I fell … The muscle was still quite sore because of the impact, so all in all I’m just glad to get through,” the world number two said.
Tsonga made the last 16 by beating Jimmy Wang of Taiwan, 6-2 6-2 7-5.
Murray, who eased to a 6-2 6-3 6-2 win over Spanish 27th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, has made the last 16 for the loss of just 19 games, beating his previous Wimbledon best of 26 games conceded in 2010.
He will face Kevin Anderson, the first South African man to reach the fourth round for 14 years, after he clinched a 4-6 6-4 2-6 6-2 6-1 victory over Italian 16th seed Fabio Fognini.
Five-time women’s champion Venus Williams and 2002 men’s winner Lleyton Hewitt saw their 2014 Wimbledon campaigns end.
Hewitt played a record 42nd five-set Grand Slam match but still went down in a delayed second round tie, losing to 2013 semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, 7-5 6-4 6-7 (7/9) 4-6, 6-3.
In her 17th Wimbledon and 63rd Grand Slam, Williams went down 5-7 7-6 (7/2) 7-5 in the third round to 2011 champion Petra Kvitova.
Defeat means seven-time Grand Slam winner Williams has failed to reach the last 16 at a major since Wimbledon in 2011.
Bulgarian 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov won a marathon battle with Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-1 to make the last 16 for the first time.
Former women’s world number one Caroline Wozniacki reached the last 16 for the fourth time with a 6-3 6-0 win over Croatian 16-year-old Ana Konjuh.