Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt suffered his earliest ever exit from the US Open when he was edged out 6-3 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-1 by Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round on Monday.
The Australian, champion at Flushing Meadows in 2001 and seeded 32nd, showed typical grit to fight back from two sets down but Mathieu gathered himself to win the decider and clinch victory after three hours 39 minutes.
Hewitt, who had a second bout of hip surgery in January, looked down and out when Mathieu won the first two sets with a sparkling array of winners.
But the Frenchman has a history of throwing away winning situations - in 2002 he lost the deciding rubber in the Davis Cup final from two sets ahead - and Hewitt began to battle back.
The Australian saved two break points in each of two consecutive service games midway through the third set, winning a Hawk-Eye challenge on one of them that would have allowed Mathieu to serve for the match at 5-3.
Mathieu, who has slipped from a career-high ranking of 12 to 109 after a series of injuries, began to wobble and Hewitt snatched his chance, breaking to win the third set only to fall 4-2 down in the fourth.
Again Hewitt rallied and when he completed four games in a row to win the set and level the match, the crowd packed into the Louis Armstrong Stadium sensed a perfect comeback.
But against the odds, Mathieu steadied himself at the crucial time and broke twice to lead 4-0 before clinching victory with a third break when Hewitt double-faulted.