Sixth seed Rublev dumped out of French Open by inspired Arnaldi
Arnaldi saved a set point in the opening set and went on to dominate his emotionally charged opponent for a 7-6(8), 6-2, 6-4 victory to equal his best Grand Slam run.
Russian Rublev ranted and raged at himself as the match began to slip away, thumping his racket into his legs and kicking his courtside bench as another chance at a deep Grand Slam run came to a bitter end on the Parisian dust.
Arnaldi, who also reached the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open, was rock-solid throughout and barely put a foot wrong as he posted one the biggest wins of his career.
Rublev has reached 10 Grand Slam quarter-finals without ever going further but on this occasion even that proved beyond him as he could find no answer to Arnaldi's accuracy and power.
He is the highest-seeded casualty so far in the men's draw.
Arnaldi will play either Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas or China's Zhang Zhizhen for a place in the quarter-finals.
