After Ash Barty was beaten and Naomi Osaka withdrew this week, No.3 seed Sabalenka joined them in exiting the tournament on Saturday (AEST).

No.31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova triumphed 6-4 2-6 6-0 in a battle lasting 100 minutes.

Sabalenka came into the French Open with form behind her having beaten Barty to win the Madrid Open a month after losing to the Australian in another final appearance in Stuttgart.

But depsite having 10 WTA titles to her name, Sabalenka's wait to make a big grand slam impact as a singles player goes on – she he is still yet to reach the quarter-finals at any of the four Majors.

Sabalenka won only 10 of her 30 second-serve points as Pavlyuchenkova broke her on five occasions in the match, storming to victory in the decider.

Pavlyuchenkova will face Victoria Azarenka, who defeated Madison Keys, in the fourth round.