Novak Djokovic completed a remarkable escape act to move into the quarterfinals of the French Open, hauling himself back from two sets down to beat unfancied Italian Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 at Roland Garros yesterday.

The world No. 1 had looked down and out as he racked up a catalogue of unforced errors under a leaden Parisian sky to fall towards the precipice of an early exit.

A lackluster Djokovic, however, got the upper hand in the third and began to wear down his opponent before closing out the match in four hours 18 minutes.

The Serb, who is looking to complete his haul of grand slam trophies, will play the winner of Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka's fourth-round clash with fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

But the women's top seed was not so fortunate. Victoria Azarenka did damage to her racket but failed to have much of an impact on her opponent.

The No. 1 seed from Belarus fell 2-6, 6-7 (4) to 15th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova.

Grand slam season

Azarenka, who won the Australian Open to start the 2012 grand slam season, pulled out a first game that went nine deuces and took 15 minutes but didn't capture any momentum in the process.

Cibulkova rolled off six of the next seven to take the first set. Then, she came back for a 3-2 lead after falling down a break early in the second. Azarenka bashed her racket into the ground during the changeover and received a warning for racket abuse. Her frustration was still showing after the match, when, asked what she would do to recover from the loss, she answered sarcastically.

"I'm going to kill myself," she said. "This tournament is over for me. What's to recover from? It's (time) to really look forward and improve. That's it."

Azarenka joins a large group of so-called favorites on the sidelines. The Williams sisters, former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and former champions Ana Ivanovic and Francesca Schiavone are among those already gone with the second week just getting under way.

Another former champion, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, lost to 21st-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 0-6, 5-7 yesterday.

Five women have won the last five grand slam titles and the last four majors have been won by first-time champions. The only former winner left in the draw is China's Li Na, the defending champion.

Errani's next opponent is 10th-seeded German Angelique Kerber, a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Petra Martic of Croatia.

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