Roger Federer walks off the court after being defeated by Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in their men's singles tennis match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. PHOTO: Reuters
LONDON: Defending champion Roger Federer's remarkable run of reaching 36 consecutive grand slam quarter-finals or better was ended in a shock second-round Wimbledon defeat by unheralded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky on Wednesday.
Federer's 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 7-6(5) loss in exactly three hours rocked Wimbledon to its core on a day that already seemed surreal after seven players withdrew or retired injured and third-seed Russian Maria Sharapova also stumbled to defeat.
The last time Federer, who has won a record 17 grand slam titles, including seven gilded Challenge Cups, failed to reach at least the last eight was in the 2004 French Open.
But on day three of the championships an opponent ranked a lowly 116th in the world launched outrageous winners left, right and centre to bring Federer to his knees and condemn the Swiss to his earliest Wimbledon exit since a first-round loss in 2002.
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For whom should I watched the tournament now?
For me ! No interest left in Wimbledon now !! Federer, Sharapova, Nadal, Azarenka all gone
Path clear for Andy Murray
Can't beleive both are out of the tournment, thats what i least expected.
@SJ One word: OLD. With Federer, thats the case but with Nadal its the wear and tear of his style of play thats catching up with him.
Age catching up?
Wimbledon 2013 is full of surprises.. according to experts Federer and Nadal can meet in quarterfinals but look what happened. Rafael Nadal defeated in first round and now Federer loss his match. Maria Sharapova defeat is also part of these shocking results.
A sad day for Roger Federer fans but one we should get used to. Can't say it wasnt coming though.
what is happening with nadal and fedrer