Defending champion Serena Williams was eliminated in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday, failing to close out a see-saw third set before losing 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 to Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
The loss ends Williams’ career-best 34-match winning streak and her attempt to win a sixth title at the All England Club.
Williams was up a break twice in the third set but Lisicki fought back both times and broke again to go up 5-4. She converted her second match point with a forehand winner.
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Former champion Petra Kvitova became the first player to reach the quarterfinals at this year’s Wimbledon, beating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-3.
She was joined minutes later by Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, who reached her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal by ousting Flavia Pennetta of Italy 7-6 (2), 6-3 a year after her ranking plummeted as low as 262nd because of injuries.
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In a busy day at Wimbledon, all remaining men and women were set to play their fourth-round matches. Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were both playing on Centre Court later, along with second-seeded Andy Murray.
Kvitova served for the first set at 6-5 but was broken at love and then lost four straight points in the tiebreaker to trail 4-3. But she capitalized on a couple of errors by the Spaniard and converted her first set point when Suarez Navarro netted a backhand.
In the second, she broke to lead 4-2, and served out the match at love when Suarez Navarro sent a forehand long.
The 18th-ranked Suarez Navarro was the first Spanish woman since 2001 to reach the fourth round at the All England Club.
Kvitova will next play Flipkens, whose career-best Grand Slam showing comes after she had much of 2012 ruined by injuries, including blood clots in her calf. She missed last year’s Wimbledon but has bounced back this year and is currently ranked 20th.
After clinching the win against Pennetta with an overhead smash, Flipkens fell on her back on the grass, covering her face with her hands in apparent disbelief.
Li routs Vinci
Former French Open champion Li Na won a matchup of 30-somethings to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the third time, routing Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-2, 6-0.
The 31-year-old Chinese player broke the 30-year-old Vinci six times to wrap up the win in just 55 minutes on Court 3.
The sixth-seeded Li will next play the winner between No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria.
The 11th-seeded Vinci was trying to reach her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, having also reached the fourth round last year.
Stephens beats Puig
Sloane Stephens of the U.S. reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year, beating 19-year-old Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
The 17th-seeded Stephens is the last American singles player left at the grass-court tournament. Serena Williams lost her match to Sabine Lisicki.
For the first time in 101 years, no men representing the U.S. even made it to Wimbledon’s third round.
Stephens, who is 20, eliminated Williams in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in January to reach her first career major semifinal.
Next for Stephens in her second appearance at Wimbledon is a match against No. 15 Marion Bartoli, the 2007 runner—up, or 104th-ranked Karin Knapp.