Tennis: Top seed Roger Federer has crashed out of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Radek Stepanek at the quarter-final stage.
The unseeded Czech stormed to a 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (9/7) triumph to clinch his second career victory in six meetings against the world number one.
The first set went to a tie-break, which Stepanek rallied to take 7-4 after a shaky start which saw him go 2-0 down.
The 29-year-old from Karvina broke the Swiss master early in the second set and established a 4-1 lead only for Federer to break back.
Stepanek did not let that setback affect his rhythm and again broke the Federer serve in the eighth game to earn the opportunity to serve for the match, but again the five-time Wimbledon champion fought back to deny him and take the set to a tie-break.
Federer looked to be in control when he went 4-1 up but it was Stepanek's turn to battle back and close it out 9-7.
Stepanek will next face the winner of the last-eight clash between third seed Novak Djokovic and Spain's Nicolas Almagro.
Friday's first quarter-final saw another upset with eighth-seeded American James Blake ousted by unseeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
The American took the first set on a tie-break but the unseeded Swiss responded to win 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 and earn a semi-final meeting with either Andy Roddick or Tommy Robredo.