NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal kept making a stand, kept coming back, kept showing he would not depart quietly from this U.S. Open. Facing a much younger, much-less-accomplished opponent, Nadal twice erased a set deficit. Then he staved off a trio of match points.

And then, more than four hours into the toughest test he’s put his left wrist through since returning from injury, Nadal faltered. He missed a short forehand, pushing it into the net. Nadal knew what he’d done and covered his eyes with both hands. One point later, the match was over.

Lucas Pouille celebrates after breaking serve against Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of the U.S. Open. Pouille won in five sets, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 . Associated Press//Darron Cummings)

Nadal was upset in the fourth round by 24th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) on Sunday, prolonging the 14-time Grand Slam title winner’s quarterfinal drought at major tournaments.

“There were things I could do better. Had the right attitude. I (fought) right up to the last ball,” said the No. 4-seeded Nadal, a two-time U.S. Open champion. “But I need something else. I need something more that was not there today.”

He breezed through his opening three matches, dropping only 20 games. But Pouille, a 22-year-old with flashy strokes, presented a much greater challenge, pushing Nadal to the limit through entertaining and tense exchanges.

“Every point was great,” Pouille said.

This was Pouille’s third career victory in a five-setter; all have come in his last three matches.

Since losing in last year’s French Open quarterfinals, Nadal has failed to make it beyond the fourth round at a major. And after winning at least one Grand Slam title each year for a decade, he’s now gone two full seasons without one.

In 2016, he lost in the first round of the Australian Open. Then he pulled out of the French Open before his third-round match because of a torn tendon sheath in his left wrist, an injury that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon altogether and miss about 21/2 months in all.

Pouille was joined in the quarterfinals by a pair of countrymen, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and No. 10 Gael Monfils, giving France three men’s quarterfinalists at the U.S. Open for the first time in 89 years.

Pouille will face Monfils, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 winner over Marcos Baghdatis, who received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for using his cellphone during a second-set changeover. Monfils is quite a character himself: During one point, he pretended to lean over to tie a shoelace before quickly resuming play.

The other quarterfinal on that side of the draw will feature Tsonga against No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Kyle Edmund of Britain 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Tsonga got there by eliminating the last U.S. man in the field, No. 26 Jack Sock, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (7), 6-2.

In the women’s quarterfinals, it’ll be No. 2 Angelique Kerber vs. 2015 runner-up Roberta Vinci, and two-time finalist Caroline Wozniacki vs. 48th-ranked Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia.

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