Three-time runner-up Andy Roddick and women's second seed Vera Zvonareva crashed out of Wimbledon on Friday as Maria Sharapova survived a gutsy challenge from British 17-year-old Laura Robson.
Eighth seed Andy Roddick, beloved by the Wimbledon crowd after his epic 2009 final against Roger Federer, looked a shadow of his former self in a 7-6(2), 7-6(2), 6-4 loss to Spanish serve-and-volleyer Feliciano Lopez.
Roddick had won all seven of his previous meetings with Lopez, but the Spaniard, twice a quarter-finalist, served brilliantly and stopped Roddick establishing his all-consuming power game.
Roddick, 28, has now failed to get past the fourth round in three of his last four visits to Wimbledon.
On Thursday, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(8) in a second round match.
Great win
“It's a great win. It's probably the best win of my career. But even leading two sets to love, I knew that he would still be a great fighter as he is such a great player,” said Lopez, who fired 57 winners and made just seven unforced errors. He also out-aced Roddick 28-23.
“It's a very important win. I was a little nervous towards the end as it's always difficult to close out a match.”
World No. 2 Zvonareva followed Roddick out of the exit door when she slumped to a 6-2, 6-3 defeat against Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, the woman she beat in the semifinals in 2010.
Revenge match
Pironkova next faces five-time winner Venus Williams for a place in the quarterfinals. Venus cruised into the last 16 with a straight set win over Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The American, seeded 23, sailed through the first but was given a better fight in the second before winning 6-0, 6-2 in 62 minutes.
Pironkova had knocked out Venus in the quarterfinals of the 2010 edition here. It was only Venus' second loss on grass to a player from outside the top 30.
“I'm feeling good and it's great to be ready for the second week. I've got a couple of days off to get things in order,” said Venus. “Last year, I wasn't at my best but this year I'm going to look forward to playing a bit better than I did last time.”
Venus retired in the third round of the Australian Open with right hip injury. She rarely pulls out of matches and missed all subsequent events until the Eastbourne Wimbledon warm-up, seeing her world ranking drop to 30.
However, her ranking bears no relevance to her chances at the All England Club, where her win-loss record now stands at 71-9.
Venus was clearly still feeling her hip at points, rubbing it between games during her match on Court 1.
Martinez Sanchez, ranked 36th in the world, hardly got going at all in the first set, with Venus effortlessly taking the first four games and the Spaniard doing herself no favours with a few double faults.
Venus was finally forced into a higher gear when she was taken to a pair of deuces on her serve.
In the following game, Martinez Sanchez pegged back Venus to two deuces again before the American finally won the 27-minute set when her opponent hit the net.
The Spanish No. 3 improved her game in the second, giving Venus a tough contest before the American broke for a 3-1 lead. Venus reached match point when Martinez Sanchez overshot a lob and won it when her opponent fired wide.
Russian 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was also a third-round loser with the former U.S. Open and French Open champion slipping to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat by Belgian 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer.
Sharapova, the fifth seed, recovered from 4-1 down in the first set to reach the third round with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Robson, playing on a wildcard and ranked at 254 in the world.
“She started so well. She was going for her shots and serving so well that I couldn't get too many looks on her first serve,” said Sharapova.
“But I played better as the match went on. She's young and moving up and playing good tennis. I didn't play my best and I feel like I made more errors than I had to.”
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki eased into the third round playing on the same Court Two that sparked Serena Williams's bitter accusations of favouritism 24 hours earlier.
World No. 1 Wozniacki defeated France's Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-3 in a second round match held over from Thursday and next faces Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova for a last-16 place.
The 20-year-old Wozniacki, who has yet to get beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon, had no trouble in beating Razzano — playing here in honour of her fiance, who died in May — for the fifth time in five meetings.
“Obviously I think I deserve to play on one of the bigger courts. Everyone wants to play in there,” said Wozniacki.
“It's up to the tournament to decide where we're going to play. I just go out there and I try to win. I'm a competitor, so it really doesn't matter.”
— Agencies
The Results
Men : Third round : Feliciano Lopez (Esp) bt 8-Andy Roddick (USA) 7-6(2), 7-6(2), 6-4. Second round : Bernard Tomic (Aus) bt Igor Andreev (Rus) 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; 11-Juergen Melzer (Aut) bt Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(1); 7-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Ryan Harrison (USA) 6-7(6), 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; 32-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt Andreas Seppi (Ita) 6-4, 7-6(4), 7-5; 12-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) bt Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(8); 18-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Somdev Devvarman (Ind), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; 16-Nicolas Almagro (Esp) bt John Isner (USA) 7-6(3), 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-3; 3-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Adrian Mannarino (Fra) 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
28-David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (Aut) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Rik de Voest (Rsa) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; 19-Michael Llodra (Fra) bt Ricardo Mello (Bra) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles : Somdev Devvarman (Ind) & Kei Nishikori (Jpn) bt Rainer Schuettler (Ger) & Alexander Waske (Ger) 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2; 3-Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Leander Paes (Ind) bt Ivan Dodig (Cro) & Lovro Zovko (Cro) 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4.
Women : Third round : Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukr) 6-3, 6-2; 19-Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) bt 12-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; 23-Venus Williams (USA) bt Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Esp) 6-0, 6-2; Ksenia Pervak (Rus) bt 11-Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 6-4, 7-6(2).
Second round : 1-Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Virginie Razzano (Fra) 6-1, 6-3; 20-Peng Shuai (Chn) bt Elena Baltacha (GBR) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; 5-Maria Sharapova (Rus) bt Laura Robson (GBR) 7-6(4), 6-3; 9-Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Esp) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; 32-Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) bt 2-Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 6-2, 6-3.
21-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; Klara Zakopalova (Cze) bt 31-Lucie Safarova (Cze) 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4; Melinda Czink (Hun) bt Anastasiya Yakimova (Blr) 7-5, 6-3. Petra Cetkovska (Cze) bt 13-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4; 27-Jarmila Gajdosova (Aus) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Cze) 7-6(1), 6-3; Sabine Lisicki (Ger) bt 3-Li Na (Chn) bt 3-6, 6-4, 8-6.
Doubles : First round : 4-Sania Mirza (Ind) & Elena Vesnina (Rus) bt Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) & Melanie Oudin (USA) 6-0, 7-6(4).
