Wimbledon 2013 Day 3: Federer stunned by Stakhovsky

The dream of an 8th crown in 2013 is over for Federer

Wimbledon 2013 Day 3: Federer stunned by Stakhovsky

It is hard to remember a Wimbledon day quite like Wednesday 26th June 2013.  In the space of a few hours the tournament had lost Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. 

It was scarecely believable; carnage in the second round and any players left standing will count themselves lucky.

The biggest shock was the four-set defeat of Federer by Ukranian world No.116 (former no.31) Sergiy Stakhovsky which ended the 31 year-old's title defence and his 9 year and 36 Grand Slam streak of consecutive quarter finals.

It was a historic moment and I was fortunate enought to watch every point of it on Centre Court.

Delight for Stakhovsky as he seals his greatest win

Stakhovsky played an excellent match, the match of his life.  It was a performance full of blistering serves and crisply struck volley winners. 

And yet this was a Federer who could not take his opportunities.  The third seed only converted one of eight break points and the sole conversion at 2-3 in the fourth set came courtesy of a netted forehand from the Ukranian.

It was hard to believe that Federer's streak could end in anything short of a titanic five set marathon but Stakhovsky had not read the script. 

He saved Federer's set point at 5-6 in the fourth and took control of the subsequent tie-break with a backhand winner up the line.

Federer saved one match point with a forehand winner but one final backhand landed wide and the 27 year-old Stakhovsky has secured his first top 10 win in style 6-7(5-7), 7-6(7-5), 7-5, 7-6(7-5).

Down and out - Sharapova was shocked

On any other day at SW19 the straight sets defeat of Maria Sharapova by a Portuguese qualifer would have taken top billing. 

The 2004 Champion was surprisingly outhit from the baseline by Michelle Larcher de Brito and despite fending off four match the Russian went down 6-3, 6-4.

World No.2 Victoria Azarenka and exited earlier without striking a ball after the effects of her dramatic fall in round one proved to be too much.

In a mass exodus there were also withdrawals from Cilic, Yaroslava Shvedova and Nadal's conqueror Steve Darcis.  Sixth seeded Tsonga was the latest victim of a series slip as the Frenchman, semi-finalist of the last 12 months, retired trailing Ernests Gulbis by two sets to one. 

Earlier on Centre Court  Ivanovic had fallen 6-3 6-3 to reigning Junior Champion Eugenie Bouchard,  Wozniacki was clubbed 6-2 6-2 by Petra Cetkowska and Jelena Jankovic let slip a 5-2 first set lead to go down in straights against the unremarkable Vesna Dolonc. 

Less noteworthy for most was the second round defeat of 1999 semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.  The big hitting Croat missed a golden opportunity of a third round meeting with Bouchard as she went down 1-6 6-3 6-3 to Carla Suarez Navarro.

Murray survived the carnage

US Open and Olympic Champion Andy Murray was possibly the only really big name to survive day three as the second seed saw off Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3 6-3 7-5. 

The World No.2 is the lone survivor of the top 10 in his side of the draw, it's just a real shame from a British perspective that Laura Robson is not in the decimated bottom half of the women's draw where the main contenders are 2011 champion Petra Kvitova and Australian Open  semi-finalist Sloane Stephens.

On the doubles court Jonny Marray began the defence of the title he won in thrilling fashion twelve months ago as he and Colin Fleming claimed a four set victory on court 14.

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