 | « Back to article | Print this article |
PHOTOS: Sharapova, Wozniacki tumble out of Wimbledon
Former Wimbledon champion and third seed Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the tournament in the second round by Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito on a dramatic Wednesday.
The tall Russian was scheduled on Court Two and never looked happy against a tenacious opponent ranked 131 in the world, losing 6-3, 6-4 to leave the women's draw in tatters after the earlier withdrawal of second seed Victoria Azarenka.
Sharapova could not avoid one of her worst results
Former World No.1 Sharapova needed treatment when trailing 4-3 in the second set after slipping and doing the splits behind the baseline, holding her hip after tumbling to the ground.
She went off court to be treated and resumed after a near 10-minute stoppage but the 2004 champion could not avoid one of her worst results at the All England Club.
Injured Wozniacki out
Caroline Wozniacki was the latest player left spread-eagled on the slippery All England Club turf as she limped out of Wimbledon following a 6-2, 6-2 second-round defeat by Czech Petra Cetkovska on Wednesday.
On a day when women's second seed Victoria Azarenka was among five players to pull out injured, the Dane looked set to suffer the same fate as she took a tumble after skidding over while chasing down a backhand in the fourth game of the match.
It led one spectator on Court Two to comment "they are falling like flies here" as Wozniacki called for the overworked Wimbledon trainer to attend to her stricken ankle.
'Half-lame Wozniacki'
After applying some spray and strapping to her ankle and foot, a grimacing Wozniacki hesitantly returned to the baseline and promptly dropped her serve.
As the right-handed ninth seed struggled to put any pressure on her left ankle as she went through her service motion, another observer described her as a "half-lame Wozniacki".
What was clear was that the Dane wanted the ordeal to be over sooner rather than later and Cetkovska obliged by finishing off the match in 75 minutes.
The Czech will next face either rising American hope Sloane Stevens or germany's Andrea Petkovic.
'Dreddy' hails his greatest win at a Grand Slam
Dreadlocked Wimbledon qualifier Dustin Brown has no coach and used to travel to tournaments in a camper van but on Wednesday he enjoyed his greatest success at a grand slam by knocking out former champion Lleyton Hewitt.
"Did that just happen?" he asked after a fairytale second-round victory that reduced him to tears. "I cried like a little girl," he confessed after beating the veteran Australian he used to watch on television when he was a child.
Brown, nicknamed "Dreddy" for his dreadlocks, has a German mother, Inge, and a Jamaican father, Leroy. He switched nationality from Jamaica to Germany in 2010.
This was by far his biggest victory in any Grand Slam.
He never dared celebrate his passage into the third round until the very end against a dogged opponent whose motto has always been "never say never."
Brown, ranked 189 in the world, said of Hewitt: "He would play for 10 sets and wouldn't care."
After wearing down the indomitable Aussie with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2 victory, the 28-year-old said: "I have been close to winning big matches but never quite got it together.
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.