Sharapova Shocked; Jelena, Venus Reach Third Round

The bottom half of the ladies' singles main draw boasted three former champions, but after second round matches continued on Thursday just one of them was left standing, with Venus Williams moving on but Maria Sharapova and Lindsay Davenport out of the tournament. No.2 seed Jelena Jankovic continued to win in straight sets.
 
Alla Kudryavtseva, currently ranked No.154 in the world but as high as No.59 just over a year ago, pulled off the first big upset of the tournament with a 62 64 stunner over No.3 seed Sharapova. She was aggressive from the very start, pounding her huge, flat forehand into the corners throughout the one-hour, 24-minute win, keeping an erratic Sharapova off balance throughout and clinching it with a risky crosscourt forehand into the corner that flew by Sharapova even though she was right there.
 

"Maybe it will sound a little too much for me, but I did expect to win; I didn't just think about going and playing," Kudryavtseva said. "I realized Maria wasn't playing that great when she double faulted three times - I don't know what score that was - but it was the first time I broke her. She picked it up towards the end of the match and started playing some really good, aggressive tennis, putting more balls in the court, not overplaying the shots. I did a good job dealing with that. I knew she'd pick it up at some point. She always does. Thank God that last forehand went in!"
 
"I guess it wasn't my day," Sharapova said. "She just did everything better than I did. She hit the ball harder, served and returned better... On grass, those are two important elements. When you don't have a lot on the ball, your opponent can take advantage of that. Obviously she had nothing to lose. She went for her shots. I wasn't playing my game. I let her take control of the majority of points."
 
Kudryavtseva had lost her first two career matches against Top 10 players, both last year, to Martina Hingis at the Australian Open and to Sharapova at Roland Garros; she was even 0-4 against Top 20 players, having lost to Nicole Vaidisova and Patty Schnyder last summer. But in that first match against Sharapova she did lead 4-1 in the second set before falling in straights, and right here last year, taking on a No.31-ranked Williams, she was up a break in both the second and third sets of a 26 63 75 first round loss; Williams would go on to win the title.
 
"For sure my first match with Maria helped, but I think what helped more was last year's match with Venus," Kudryavtseva said. "I was so close to winning, and then I played a little too passive in the end. So today I thought, 'There's no way I'm going to do the same mistake again.' So I went for my shots."
 

This is the first time Sharapova has lost this early at a Grand Slam since she debuted at all four of them in 2003, falling first round in Australia and France and second round at the US Open; she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon that year, and hadn't fallen before the fourth round here until today.
 
"I'm experienced enough to know that life goes on and that there are a lot worse things in life than losing a tennis match, even if it's at Wimbledon and even if it means a lot to me. I still have the desire, even 30 minutes after the match, to get better. That's the only thing that's gonna get me to hold that plate again."
 
Davenport, the No.25 seed this fortnight, withdrew prior to her match against Gisela Dulko due to a right knee injury originally suffered at Eastbourne a week ago and aggravated in her first round win over Renata Voracova Tuesday.
 
"After my first match I went to the hospital and had an MRI," said Davenport, the champion here in 1999. "It came out looking good. The cartilage looks good, the structure, the ligaments, the tendons all look fine. It just showed I had some inflammation and some fluid behind the kneecap. My first thought was major relief - it had nothing to do with the previous surgery on my knee. No immediate danger, it was just really inflamed and painful. I wanted to give it a rest all day yesterday. I had treatment twice and wanted to see how it felt today in warm-up, and I felt about 25, 30 percent. It's just not good enough. It's not going to get better the more I play. So, prescribed rest."
 
Sharapova and Davenport weren't the only seeds out on Thursday. No.10 seed Daniela Hantuchova was ousted by Alisa Kleybanova, 63 46 61; No.13 seed Vera Zvonareva lost to last week's 's-Hertogenbosch champion Tamarine Tanasugarn, 76(10) 46 63; No.22 seed Flavia Pennetta lost to Ai Sugiyama, 76(5) 26 62; No.26 seed Sybille Bammer lost to Peng Shuai, 76(7) 46 63; and No.32 seed Sania Mirza fell to qualifier María José Martínez Sánchez in a nail-biter, 60 46 97.
 
Jelena, Venus continue collision course

No.2 seed Jankovic, No.5 seed Elena Dementieva, No.7 seed Williams, No.9 seed Dinara Safina, No.16 seed Victoria Azarenka, No.21 seed Nadia Petrova, No.24 seed Shahar Peer and No.31 seed Caroline Wozniacki all moved safely through.
 
Jankovic crushed Spain's Carla Suárez Navarro, 61 63, in a rematch of their French Open quarterfinal two weeks ago, where Jankovic won almost as easily, 63 62. She next faces Wozniacki, who has three Top 10 wins already this year.
 
"She's a nice girl," said Jankovic of Wozniacki. "I'll go out there and try to do what I do best. I don't know how far she'll go in her career - I can't predict the future - but she's a great player and has lots of talent and potential."
 

Just like in her first match of the tournament, Williams had a tough first set, but once she got the ball rolling it never stopped, and she clubbed British No.1 Anne Keothavong, 75 62. At No.92, Keothavong is Britain's lone Top 100 player.
 
"I played two really great girls in the first two rounds," said Williams, who beat Naomi Cavaday on Tuesday, 76(5) 61. "They were very challenging. I think it will be great for Wimbledon and great for British tennis if they would continue playing as they did here. The future looks really bright for British women's tennis."
 
Should they keep winning, Jankovic and Williams could meet in the quarterfinals. Only one seed - Wozniacki, who is Jankovic's next test, as previously stated - is the only other seed in their quarter of the draw.

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