Andy Murray joined Novak Djokovic in talking an early flight home, falling to a three-set defeat at the hands of little known Pole Jerzy Janowicz in the third round of the Paris Masters.
The tournament has suffered one blow after another, first with Rafael Nadal ruling himself out through injury, then Federer deciding to withdraw, before Djokovic making an early exit in the second round with a surprise loss to Sam Querrey. Murray made it 4 out of the top four players, losing 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2 to the world number 64.
"This was the most unbelievable day in my life," Janowicz said. "I beat the Olympic champion, U.S. Open champion. I beat Andy Murray.
"Unbelievable feeling for me. Still, I have the feeling that in a few minutes I'm going to wake up and it will all be gone. But in one hand I have to believe this because tomorrow I have another match, so I have to be ready for tomorrow. No matter what happened today, I have to do my job tomorrow."
Murray felt he failed to take advantage of the opportunities that were presented to him, particularly in the second set when he served for the match.
"When I served for the match, I didn't play a particularly good game and missed a couple of shots that I would have hoped to have made," Murray said. "He probably gained some confidence from that and started playing better. He played a good tie-break, played aggressive.
"I have to make sure I tighten that up next week, if I get that opportunity in the matches. Make sure I don't let it happen at The O2 (in the ATP World Tour Finals)."
Jo Wilfried-Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic sealed the last two spots available for the World Tour Finals in London, joining the already qualified six of Federer, Djokovic, Murray, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin Del Potro.
Tsonga entered the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters with a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) win over Nicolas Almagro and will now face the plucky Spaniard Ferrer, who fought past Stanislas Wawrinka 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Berdych came from a set down to advance 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Czech will play Gilles Simon, after the Frenchman made it to the last eight without hitting a ball - his opponent Kei Nishikori withdrawing due to an ankle injury.