Dinara Safina rolled top seed Maria Sharapova in a 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 fightback on Monday to turn the fight for world number one into a lottery at the French Open, the dpa reported.
The 13th-seeded younger sister of Marat Safin showed some of her brother's racket-smashing as well as his battling skills as she recovered to stun her fellow Russian.
The loss in the fourth round leaves Sharapova's position atop the WTA rankings finely balanced, with rivals Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kusntesova all in with a chance of taking over.
Results for the rest of the week at Roland Garros will determine if Sharapova stays or goes from the summit.
Safina recovered after losing her serve to start the third set to reverse her fortunes as Sharapova's game went off the rails with 33 unforced errors in two hours, 52 minutes.