Wimbledon: Former champion Maria Sharapova and two-time runner-up Andy Roddick were upset in the second round in a day of big surprises at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Sharapova was ousted by a 154th-ranked Russian, marking her earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament since her first full season on tour in 2003.
Her game littered by double faults and ugly unforced errors, the third-seeded Sharapova slumped to a 6-2, 6-4 loss to 20-year-old Alla Kudryavtseva on Court 1.
The upstart winner even rubbed it in by trashing the fashion icon's widely publicised Wimbledon ensemble of tuxedo-style blouse and shorts.
"I don't like her outfit," Kudryavtseva said. "It was one of the motivations to beat her."
Roddick, who lost in the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals to Roger Federer, went out 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) to 40th-ranked Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who has never gone past the fourth round at a major.
The sixth-seeded Roddick went 0-8 on break points, while Tipsarevic converted both of his break chances. Roddick had three set points in the fourth set but couldn't capitalise, and Tipsarevic finished him off in the tiebreaker, falling to his hands and knees in celebration on Centre Court.
"This means the world to me," Tipsarevic said.
He pulled off the biggest win of his career just a day after No. 3-ranked countryman Novak Djokovic was knocked out on the same court by Marat Safin.
"I'm just glad that I won and Serbia will have more representatives in the men's singles draw," Tipsarevic said.
Sharapova, who won the 2004 Wimbledon title at age 17, hadn't lost so early in a Grand Slam since going out in the first round at the Australian and French Open and second round at the US Open in 2003.
"She had nothing to lose," Sharapova said. "She went for her shots. I can't be really happy about anything today."
Sharapova is the second marquee player eliminated in as many days. But her defeat to a little-known player with a career Grand Slam record of 4-5 was a much bigger shock than Djokovic's loss to former No. 1 Safin on Wednesday.
Defending champion Venus Williams, meanwhile, overcame another erratic performance and pulled away to beat Britain's Anne Keothavong 7-5, 6-2 and reach the third round. In men's play, second-seeded Rafael Nadal rallied to beat 19-year-old Latvian star Ernests Gulbis 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
On paper, it seemed inconceivable Kudryavtseva could beat the three-time Grand Slam winner and reigning Australian Open champion — especially at the tournament where Sharapova made her major breakthrough four years ago.
Kudryavtseva, who was born in Moscow and now lives in Miami, lost in the first round at Wimbledon to eventual champion Venus Williams last year. She has been ranked as high as No. 59 last year.
In their only previous meeting, Sharapova won easily, 6-1, 6-4, at the French Open last year.
PAGE_BREAK
"Maybe it will sound a little too much, but I did expect to win," Kudryavtseva said. "I did think about winning, not just going and playing."
It was clear from the start Thursday that Sharapova was off her game _ other than her shrieking grunts, this wasn't her usual self. She looked listless and finished with 22 unforced errors and eight double faults.
Asked what went wrong, she said, "Not sure. It's a question I'll be asking myself. I think I've got to look at the tape to see what went wrong. It went a little fast to analyze it right now. I felt that I wasn't playing my game. I was letting her take control of the majority of the points."
Sharapova served three double faults in one game and Kudryavtseva took her chances and swept the first set easily in 32 minutes. Kudryavtseva also looked shaky at times in the second set, serving three double faults in the opening game. Sharapova went ahead 2-0, then dropped four straight games.
With Kudryavtseva leading 4-3, Sharapova's second serve on break point was called out, but she challenged the call and the Hawk-Eye replay system showed the ball was in, giving her another chance. When Sharapova served an ace on game point to make it 4-4, she shouted and pumped her fist and seemed to have the momentum.
But Kudryavtseva took the next two games to close out the match. Sharapova double faulted to give her opponent match point, and she converted with a crosscourt forehand winner.
For the second straight match, four-time champion Williams faced a modest British opponent in the opening contest on Centre Court and was tested to the limit in the first set. The pattern and result were almost identical from her 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Naomi Cavaday on Tuesday.
The first set alone lasted 1 hour, 9 minutes as Williams struggled to take command against a determined 92nd-ranked player who came into the tournament with only one win at Wimbledon in seven attempts.
"I lost a little bit of focus but got it back thankfully," the American said.
Williams finished with six double faults and 26 unforced errors, 10 more than Keothavong.
Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic advanced by beating Spanish wild card entry Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-1, 6-3.
Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon runner-up who swept to his fourth straight French Open title without dropping a set, lost the first set against the talented Gulbis — a quarterfinalist at the French — when he was broken in the 12th game.
But Nadal sailed through the next set, took the third in a tiebreaker and got the decisive break for 5-3 in the fourth.
No. 9 James Blake — who has never gone past the third round at Wimbledon — lost to Germany's Rainer Schuettler, 6-3, 6-7 (8), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and No. 12 Andy Murray had a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over Belgium's Xavier Malisse.
The women's field lost one former champion, 1999 winner Lindsay Davenport, when she withdrew with a right knee injury before her second-round match against Argentina's Gisela Dulko.
Comments
0 comment