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Federer Loses In Wimbledon's Second Round As Upsets Continue

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer leaves the court Wednesday, after losing in the second round to Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Adrian Dennis
/
AFP/Getty Images
Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer leaves the court Wednesday, after losing in the second round to Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Roger Federer, who last year won his seventh Wimbledon title, is out of the 2013 tournament after falling to Ukrainian Sergei Stakhovsky, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6. The upset comes two days after Rafael Nadal, who was in the same side of the bracket as Federer, was upset in the first round.

Sergiy Stakhovsky is ranked No. 116 in the world. Federer is ranked No. 3 in the world. The victory is Stakhovsky's first against an opponent ranked in the top 10.

And the women's No. 3 seed, Maria Sharapova, was also bounced Wednesday, falling to Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-3, 6-4 in the second round. Sharapova fell at least twice on the court today, blaming her slips on the condition of the grass court's surface.

As for Federer, he said after his loss on the All England Club's Centre Court, "It was clearly not what I was hoping for."

That's according to USA Today, which quotes Stakhovsky calling his win "magic," adding, "I couldn't play any better today."

Federer's loss marks the first time he has failed to advance to a Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2004 Wimbledon tournament, according to a release from the All England Club.

The top seeds have suffered at this year's Wimbledon. Earlier Wednesday, women's No. 2 seed Victoria Azarenka quit the tournament, citing a knee injury.

But the two No. 1 seeds, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams, have had little trouble. And men's No. 2 Andy Murray now finds himself atop a bracket he once shared with Federer and Nadal.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.
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