Paris: Reputations counted for little at the French Open on Thursday when Amelie Mauresmo, James Blake and David Nalbandian were toppled by opponents ranked outside the world's top 75.
Mauresmo's slender hopes of winning her home Grand Slam were shredded in the second round by a 19-year-old upstart ranked 132 in the world.
Before arriving at Roland Garros, Carla Suarez Navarro had never played at a Grand Slam.
That did not stop the Spanish qualifier from shoving 22nd seed Mauresmo towards the exit with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Seventh seed Blake, one of five American men to reach the second round, had been hoping to join compatriot Wayne Odesnik in the last 32 but was bounced out by an opponent who hails from a family of basketball players.
Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis, ranked 80th in the world, ensured Blake's nightmare in Paris continued with a 7-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 humbling on Court One.
The American has never passed the third round in six attempts.
Unlike Mauresmo and Blake, sixth seed Nalbandian had enjoyed a good track record at the claycourt Grand Slam after reaching the semi-finals in 2004 and 2006, but he surrendered a two-set lead to go down 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 to French wildcard Jeremy Chardy.
Injury scare
Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic survived the carnage to stride into the third round.
Venus was a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Tunisian qualifier Selima Sfar while Jankovic overcame a wrist injury scare to see off New Zealand's Marina Erakovic 6-2, 7-6.
For a woman who had never before experienced the imposing surroundings of the Philippe Chatrier Court, Suarez Navarro remained undaunted and turned into public enemy number one as she handed Mauresmo her earliest defeat at her home Grand Slam for seven years.
The 19-year-old ended Mauresmo's ordeal after 72 minutes of clinical one-sided action, the Frenchwoman punching a backhand long on match point.
Former champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was among the Spaniard's entourage which applauded her moment of triumph as a crestfallen Mauresmo was left to digest her 14th flop in Paris.
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"Frankly, I don't know what to say right now, because there was nothing much on my side," said a demoralised Mauresmo, who has never progressed beyond the last eight here.
Biggest victory
"All I can say is that I feel sorry about the way I played."
Nalbandian would also be kicking himself after allowing a winning situation to slip through his fingers.
He would have fancied his chances against the 145th-ranked Chardy as the Frenchman had spent all year crisscrossing the globe to far flung second tier Challenger events without playing a single match on the main tour.
However, Chardy caught Nalbandian napping in the third and fourth sets to draw level.
The local favourite remained unfazed even when he was 0-2 down in the fifth set and pulled off the biggest victory of his career when Nalbandian dumped a backhand into the net after three hours of see-saw action.
As Nalbandian tried to work out what to do with the free time that had unexpectedly come his way, Blake was simply disgusted by his performance.
"I lost to a guy ranked 80th in the world. Granted, he didn't play like 80th in the world, he played better than that. But there are a lot of guys out there that can dictate play against me if I try to play like that," Blake said.
Gulbis had won back-to-back matches just twice this year before arriving in Paris, but chalked up his first win over a top 10 player this season.
A backhand down the line winner sealed Blake's fate after two hours and 36 minutes.
Top seeds Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were in second-round action when the rain which had disrupted the first three days of the tournament returned.
Federer will be hoping for an improvement on the resumption after saving two set points before levelling at 5-5 in the first set against Spain's Albert Montanes, while three-times champion Nadal was a set and 5-0 up against France's Nicolas Devilder.
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