Kim Clijsters is out of the Indians Wells WTA tournament following her three sets loss to Russian Alisa Kleybanova on Monday.
The former world number one was expected to ease passed the Russian but surprisingly it was Kleybanova who took the opening set. The US Open champion, however, broke her opponent four times to take the second and level the match.
The third set was a much closer affair but in the resulting tie-break Clijsters raced into a 4-0 lead. Kleybanova fought back and some uncharacteristic errors from the Belgian allowed her opponent to seal the 6-4 1-6 7-6.
"I definitely think I let it slip away but credit to her," Clijsters said. "She played some really good points to get back into it.
"What got me to be ahead was I was playing aggressive tennis and being dominant. She put me under pressure during those long rallies and I kind of just backed off a little bit."
It was another hard day for Jelena Jankovic but, unlike Clijsters, the Serb managed to battle her way into the fourth round with a 2-6 7-6 6-4 win over Italian Sara Errani.
In a match lasting two hours, 48 minutes, Jankovic struggled with her serve in the opening set with Errani breaking three times to take a decisive lead.
Serving errors were to the fore again in the second as Jankovic let a 3-1 lead slip and she continued to struggle in the tie-break, allowing Errani back into it before smashing a forehand winner down the line to set up a deciding set.
In total there were five breaks of serve in the third set but Jankovic reeled off four games in succession to move into the fourth round.
"It was really a battle out there, and I just tried to stay positive as much as I could. I just tried to fight for every point and kept going and kept going," Jankovic said.
"I would play a couple of points well and then I would just give away a lot of points. At the end, I was able to win and that's the most important thing."
Israeli Shahar Peer, who beat ninth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4 6-7 6-1, will be Jankovic's opponent in the next round.
Third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus was another loser with Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain. going through 7-6 6-2, while Vera Zvonareva beat Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-3.