Sharapova ousted in Wimbledon second round

Tag : open circuit

Her game littered by double faults and ugly unforced errors, thethird-seeded Sharapova slumped to a 6-2, 6-4 loss to 20-year-oldAlla Kudryavtseva on Court 1.
"She had nothing to lose," Sharapova said. "She went for her shots.I can't be really happy about anything today."
Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion at age 17, hadn't lost soearly in a Grand Slam since going out in the first round at theAustralian and French Open and second round at the U.S. Open in2003.
Sharapova is the second marquee player eliminated in as many days.But her defeat to a little-known player with a career Grand Slamrecord of 4-5 was a much bigger shock than No. 3-ranked NovakDjokovic's loss to former No. 1 Marat Safin on Wednesday.
Defending champion Venus Williams, meanwhile, overcame anothererratic performance and pulled away to beat Britain's AnneKeothavong 7-5, 6-2 and reach the third round.
On paper, it seemed inconceivable Kudryavtseva could beat thethree-time Grand Slam winner and reigning Australian Open champion— especially at the tournament where Sharapova made her majorbreakthrough four years ago.
Kudryavtseva, who was born in Moscow and now lives in Miami, lostin the first round at Wimbledon to eventual champion Venus Williamslast year. She has been ranked as high as No. 59 last year.
In their only previous meeting, Sharapova won easily, 6-1, 6-4, atthe French Open last year.
But it was clear from the start Thursday that she was off her game— other than her shrieking grunts, this wasn't the usualSharapova. She looked listless and finished with 22 unforced errorsand eight double faults.
Asked what went wrong, she said, "Not sure. It's a question I'll beasking myself. I think I've got to look at the tape to see whatwent wrong. It went a little fast to analyze it right now. I feltthat I wasn't playing my game. I was letting her take control ofthe majority of the points."
Sharapova served three double faults in one game and Kudryavtsevatook her chances and swept the first set easily in 32 minutes.Kudryavtseva also looked shaky at times in the second set, servingthree double faults in the opening game. Sharapova went ahead 2-0,then dropped four straight games.
With Kudryavtseva leading 4-3, Sharapova's second serve on breakpoint was called out, but she challenged the call and the Hawk-Eyereplay system showed the ball was in, giving her another chance.When Sharapova served an ace on game point to make it 4-4, sheshouted and pumped her fist and seemed to have the momentum.