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27/06/2013

Federer, Hewitt, Sharapova crash out on Black Wednesday

Defending champion Roger Federer followed other notable big guns in world tennis when he crashed out of Wimbledon on Wednesday.He lost to Ukraine’s world number 116 Sergiy Stakhovsky in his worst Grand Slam defeat for a decade, two days after French Open Champion, Rafael Nadal, was also knocked out by a rookie player.Earlier, former Champion, Lleyton Hewitt was also dumped out of by
German qualifier Dustin Brown, the dreadlocked former Jamaica player ending the 2002 champion’s hopes of an impressive comeback run.

Brown, whose fluid style and range of shots won him fans on Court 2, beat the Australian veteran 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 in the second round clash.

Brown, 28, the world number 189, changed nationality from Jamaican to German in 2010. He was born in Germany to a Jamaican father and German mother. He moved to Jamaica aged 12.

The win takes him through to a first Grand Slam third round match.

“It’s going to take a while to sink in. I’m not normally the type of guy to cry,” he said.

He next plays world number 111 Adrian Mannarino.

The Frenchman made it through when US 18th seed John Isner pulled out two games into their second round match after injuring his knee.

Federer’s shock 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 7-6 (5/7) loss in a thrilling, three-hour duel on Centre Court brought the curtain down on seven-time Wimbledon champion Federer’s extraordinary record in the sport’s four majors.

The Swiss legend had made 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final appearances, having not gone out of a major before the last eight since the 2004 French Open.

It was his earliest Wimbledon defeat since he was knocked out in the first round in 2002 by Mario Ancic.

The following year he lost in the first round of the French Open to Luis Horna.

“I’m still in disbelief that it actually happened,” said Stakhovsky, who does not even have a coach.

“I played my best tennis and still it almost wasn’t enough. I’m incredibly happy.”

It was the first time that he had ever beaten a top 10 player in 21 attempts.

“I dont know how to describe it. Magic. I couldn’t play any better.Everything I needed went right. I volleyed incredibly well. It was a fantastic day,” Stakhovsky said.

The polyglot son of a urology professor and a retired university economics teacher, Stakhovsky spends his time off reading Russian classics and playing billiards, among other pursuits.

He is the first Ukrainian man to reach the Wimbledon third round since Andrei Medvedev in 1997. He faces Austria’s unseeded Jurgen Melzer for a place in the last 16.

Federer’s defeat leaves the bottom half of the draw wide open for Britain’s second seed Andy Murray, with two-time champion Rafael Nadal already out and sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrawing through injury.

Spain’s 15th seed Nicolas Almagro is the highest-ranked player remaining in the bottom half, followed by Russian 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny.

The third day at Wimbledon also witnessed the exit of many stars, some due to injuries on the slippery surface. Women’s third seed, Maria Sharapova lost to Portuguese qualifier, Michelle Larcher De Brito.

The Russian 2004 champion slipped three times, and complained that the surface was dangerous and needed an medical time-out to treat the left hip she injured in her falls.

Earlier, former world number one Caroline Wozniacki fell and needed her ankle bandaged on her way to defeat to Petra Cetkovska.

“I saw how she fell pretty hard and I know these grass courts can be really slippery and can be quite dangerous,” said Larcher De Brito, who took victory on a fifth match point.

“There’s a lot of grass that’s been cut that didn’t get swept off so there’s a lot of dead grass on the top and it made it quite slippery.”

On Wednesday there were seven injury pullouts either through retirements or withdrawals, a record for one day at a Grand Slam.

World number two and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka withdrew just minutes before she was due on Centre Court to face Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta for a place in the third round with a knee injury.

That injury was picked up when she fell on Court One on Monday in her opening win.

French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga quit his match with Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis with a knee injury at the end of the third set.

Steve Darcis, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, withdrew with a shoulder injury also suffered through a fall on Court One on Monday.

Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova withdrew while John Isner and Radek Stepanek quit during their second round matches.

“It would be great if the club or somebody who takes care of the court would examine or try to find an issue so that wouldn’t happen,” said second seeded Azarenka.

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