Top seed Andy Roddick and holder Tim Henman, their minds perhaps on next week's Masters Cup, bowed out of the Paris Masters in the third round on Thursday.
Second seed Lleyton Hewitt was luckier as the Australian's opponent, Chile's Nicolas Massu was forced out of their match after seven games with a hip injury.
Russia's Marat Safin, winner in 2000 and 2002, eased past Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-2, 7-5 and will meet Hewitt in the last eight.
Former world number one Roddick was outserved and outpaced by qualifier Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6, 6-2 in just 65 minutes.
The American, who had been out of action for a month after the U.S. Open, looked out of steam against an opponent who beat him at his own game.
The tiebreak, which the towering Mirnyi, dubbed the Beast, won 7-2, set the tone for a one-sided second set.
Hitting aces and service winners, the Belarussian never let the hapless Roddick back into the match.
Holder Henman, beaten 7-5, 6-1 by another in-form player, Russian Mikhail Youzhny, made it clear he had turned his sights towards the Masters Cup.
"To be honest, the goal was to qualify for Houston. It's been a while since I have been in the world championships if you like," said the Briton, who played in the season-ending tournament in 1997 and 1998 before it became the Masters Cup.
The third-seeded Briton had made Paris almost his second home in the last year, winning the most lucrative of the Masters Series tournaments in Bercy a year ago before reaching the French Open semi-finals in June.
The anti-climax this time was all the more striking as Henman, betrayed by his serve, bowed out in just 72 minutes.
The highest seed to fall so far left with some consolation having already been
HIGH NOTE
For 10 games, the match was a well-balanced contest with each player holding serve. But the in-form Youzhny, winner in St Petersburg on Sunday, broke Henman in the following game and did not miss his chance as he served out the set.
Youzhny had scored his biggest career win on the same court by giving Russia its first Davis Cup against France in 2002 and looked much more at home than the holder in the second set.
Youzhny won his fifth game in succession to lead 3-0 and then allowed Henman a game's reprieve before taking the last three games of an unexpectedly one-sided match.
In the quarter-finals Youzhny will meet Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, who beat American Vince Spadea 6-2, 6-3.
"First and foremost, he played some great tennis. He was the one playing very aggressively and taking shots on," said Henman.
"I think in all honesty I'm just a little sluggish and I need to make sure that I can bring back some sharpness to my game for Houston because it's obviously going to be a great way to finish the year," he added.
After one of the best seasons of his career, the 30-year-old Henman is determined to finish on a high note.
Henman's losing opponent in last year's final, 11th seeded Romanian Andrei Pavel, was also beaten, losing 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
In the last eight, former world number one Hewitt will meet Safin in what looks set to be the highlight match of the tournament.
Safin has now won 18 of his last 20 matches in the tournament while Hewitt, quarter-finalist in 2002 and semi-finalist last year, hopes to go one better this time.
