Italian Lorenzo Sonego battled back from two sets down to knock seventh seed Andrey Rublev out of the French Open on Friday and reach the last 16 for the second time.

The world number 48 was two points from defeat during a fourth-set tie-break but prevailed 5-7, 0-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 after three hours and 42 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Sonego will face Russian 11th seed Karen Khachanov for a possible quarter-final meeting with 22-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.

"Incredible comeback today," he said. "I played more aggressive than in the first and second sets because when he's aggressive it's tough to compete against him.

"I played with the right attitude and I changed everything."

It was a surprise defeat for Russian Rublev who had reached the last eight on each of his past three Slam appearances and won the Monte Carlo Masters this season.

Rublev led 5-4 in the fourth-set breaker but the momentum switched when Sonego forced a decider which he took thanks to a break of serve in the eighth game.

jc/dj