A tearful Garbiñe Muguruza hit out at the crowd after her title defence was ended by France’s Kristina Mladenovic. The Spaniard, who defeated Serena Williams in the final 12 months ago, walked off wagging her finger at the fans on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

There has not been a French winner since Mary Pierce in 2000 and Mladenovic was cheered raucously during her 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory. But Muguruza felt the support went too far, saying: “I think the audience was really tough today. I can’t really understand. I don’t know how to explain. If you had been in my shoes on the court, I think you would have understood.”

She broke down in tears in her press conference and had to leave the room for a few minutes before returning. It appeared there was no love lost between the players either, with Muguruza asked about Mladenovic’s habit of shouting forza in Italian at key moments. “I think she speaks like 25 languages, I heard,” said Muguruza.

Along with intense disappointment, there was also relief for the Spaniard, who has struggled to cope with the expectation since her triumph here last year. “I lost confidence, and my opponent was on home turf, so it created a lot of tension,” she said. “Of course I’m sad. It’s a very painful defeat here at the French Open. I love this tournament no matter what happens. I’m going to be super happy to come back. It’s going to sound weird, but I’m actually happy that this stage of the year is done.

“I wanted to go as far as possible, but even if I didn’t, I think I’m going to feel much better now to continue the year, and everybody is going to stop bothering me asking me about this tournament.”

Mladenovic, though, praised her supporters. “The courage and the force you give me is just unimaginable. It’s thanks to you that I fought for every point. And we’re in the quarter-finals. Yes!”

She has been struggling with a bad back since the eve of the tournament and served 16 double faults, but the rest of her game made up for it. She said: “Everything wasn’t perfect. There were a few concerns.” She then joked: “I made about 35 double faults today, but everything’s OK.”

Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sam Stosur also went out, meaning the women’s event will have a first-time champion this year.

Williams, who had been hoping to win the tournament for the first time in the month of her 37th birthday and add to her seven grand slam titles, lost 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to Timea Bacsinszky, the second year in a row the Swiss has beaten her in the fourth round.

“I think she just played really well,” Williams said. “She had so many answers today. I just give her credit for playing well every point, even in the first set.”

Caroline Wozniacki, with two grand slam final appearances to her credit the most experienced player left, continued her fine year with a surprise 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over the 2009 champion Kuznetsova. Despite facing an opponent proficient on clay, which is not the Dane’s best surface, Wozniacki showed unexpected aggression on her forehand, matching her opponent’s tally of 26 winners. Kuznetsova did not help her cause with 41 unforced errors. Wozniacki next faces the Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko, who knocked out Stosur 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to reach her first quarter-final.

Four third-round matches were carried over from Saturday, and the top-five seeds Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina went through. The Croatian qualifier Petra Martic defeated the No17 seed Anastasija Sevastova while Verónica Cepede Royg of Paraguay reached the fourth round for the first time.