By Lauren Lynch
Photo Credit: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

(June 27, 2011) Wimbledon's defending champion and four-time title holder Serena Williams fell on Monday to the 2007 runner-up Marion Bartoli 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Bartoli took an early break and had a 4-2 lead. The second set followed by a neck and neck scoreline, however, Williams continued to look out of form, who recently came back after a year hiatus for this tournament. .

When it looked like it would be over, the seventh seed broke back on the French player after saving four match points in intense rallies to enter in a tiebreaker.

The final set was a long 70 minutes, alone, but the ninth seed took five match points to take out the American at 8-6 in the tiebreak.

Bartoli described the round of 16 win as the best of her career, after losing Williams twice before.

“Definitely the highest win of my career,” Marion said post match. “It’s a dream come true.”

Bartoli described Williams to the Associated Press as being, "one of the greatest champions in women’s tennis."

Williams currently holds 2060 points and was defending 2000. This loss will suffer a large blow in the rankings for the top American, who is currently ranked as 25 in the World and could find herself at 180.

This marks Serena’s earliest departure since she lost in the third round in 2005.

Bartoli had ten aces to Williams' eight but the loser  had 29 winners and only one double fault to the victor's 21 winners and five double faults.

Williams failed to break in four of five opportunities on her opponent's serve, who won 80 percent of the time.

The day was rounded out by a triple upset when Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams followed Serena in losses.

Who's Wimbledon will it be?

Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka defeated Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-2 in under an hour.  The Belarusian is the highest seed left in the draw.

Fifth seed Maria Sharapova dismissed Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2. This marks the first time in five years that the tall Russian is in the quarterfinals and she is looking to add another trophy to her 2004 title.

Eighth seed Petra Kvitova ousted 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-2 in 45 minutes and is hoping to get to the semifinals for the second time in a row at the All England Club.

Former quarterfinalist Sabine Lisicki found herself in the quarters again after taking out Petra Cetkovska 7-6 (3), 6-1.

The surprising factor, World No. 80 Tamira Paszek of Austria, took a win over Ksenia Pervak 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 for her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Keep checking Tennis Now for breaking news, match results and analysis as play continues at Wimbledon.