Stan Wawrinka showed glimpses of his grand slam-winning form but has been bundled out at Queen's Club in London by former champion Sam Querrey.
The Swiss squandered seven set points in the opener and although he took the second on a tiebreak he capitulated in the decider after dropping serve at 1-2, losing 7-5 6-7 (7-3) 6-1.
His frustration boiled over when he hit a backhand long to hand Querrey the break and he buried his racquet frame into the lush centre court turf, taking a sizeable divot in the process, before snapping it over his knee.
Big-serving American Querrey, champion in 2010, calmly ticked off the next three games to move into the quarter-finals where he will meet top seed Marin Cilic, who fought back to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Mueller 4-6 6-3 6-3.
Wawrinka's ATP ranking has plummeted to 261 after his first-round loss at the French Open, having reached the final a year ago, but the good news is that his knees appear strong again after two surgeries last August.
He struck the ball with authority in the second set and played a solid tiebreak but his lack of sharpness told as he was sent packing by the fifth seed.
He was left to rue the 10th game of the first set when Querrey saved a succession of set points before winning eight of 10 points from 5-5 to take the opener.
"It's for sure some frustration to lose it, but I have to look at it the right way," Wawrinka said.
"I think the level is there. I think I'm moving quite good on the grass. I was feeling good."
Querrey, who fired down 25 aces on his way to victory, joined fellow American Frances Tiafoe in the last eight after he beat Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-4 2-6 6-4.
Croatian Cilic, winner at Queen's in 2012 and runner-up last year, banged down 19 aces to Muller's 17 in a match of few long rallies and he can expect a similar firefight against Querrey.
Frenchman Jeremy Chardy maintained his impressive form on grass with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 defeat of young Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Nick Kyrgios faces British seventh seed Kyle Edmund in the round of 16 on Thursday.
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