Maria Sharapova stunned by 154th ranked Kudryavtseva

Russian Alla Kudryavtseva claimed a massive Wimbledon upset by knocking out number three seed and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova in the second round. Sharapova, 21, was way off colour on Court One, losing 2-6 4-6 to record her worst Wimbledon performance. The 20-year-old Kudryavtseva, ranked 154th in the world, has never won a WTA tournament and is now in the third round at Wimbledon for the first time. Kudryavtseva will play China's Peng Shuai for a place in the last 16. Sharapova, who dropped only five games in her first-round win over Stephanie Foretz, was odds-on for another simple victory against an opponent she defeated 6-1 6-4 at last year's French Open. But this year's Australian Open winner never got into her stride and was unable to cope with Kudryavtseva's powerful groundstrokes.
The pressure led to Sharapova collecting a total of 22 unforced errors and eight double faults.
Kudryavtseva started the match well, holding her serve twice while forcing Sharapova to save a break point in her opening service game. Kudryavtseva lost in the first round of her Wimbledon debut last year. The breakthrough came in the sixth game, Sharapova double-faulting three times to help give Kudryavtseva the break. Kudryavtseva broke again in the eighth to seal the first set in just 32 minutes. There was a hint of nerves from Kudryavtseva at the start of the second set as she double-faulted three times to lose serve from 40-15 ahead. But Sharapova could not take advantage of the slip, losing serve in the fourth and sixth games, the second break coming with a wonderful Kudryavtseva forehand winner.
Sharapova did battle back to 4-4 but she double-faulted again when serving at 4-5 down with the score poised at 40-40 and Kudryavtseva sealed the famous victory with another crunching forehand to the corner. Sharapova's exit comes a day after number one seed Ana Ivanovic narrowly avoided a shock defeat at the hands of Nathalie Dechy.