By lunch women s No. 2 Victoria Azarenka and Steve Darcis who upset Rafael Nadal in the first round Monday had withdrawn because of injuries.
At tea a knee injury had forced No. 6 seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga to quit his match after three sets and third seeded Maria Sharapova and ninth seeded Caroline Wozniacki had lost to qualifiers after slipping on court and requiring medical treatment.
At dinner after seven singles players had retired or withdrawn with injuries the All England Club issued an extraordinary statement defending the state of its grass.
And as the sun was setting to bring one of the strangest days in Wimbledon history to an end the most unusual sight of all occurred at Centre Court Roger Federer walking off as a second round loser.
The 116th ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine used old school serve and volley tactics to send the latest shock through Wimbledon ending Federer s remarkable streak of reaching 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals with a 6 7 (5) 7 6 (5) 7 5 7 6 (5) victory.
Though nearing his 32nd birthday and having won only one tournament this year Federer had made a home at Wimbledon winning the title seven times. He had not lost before the quarterfinals at Wimbledon since falling in the first round to Mario Ancic in 2002. He had not lost before the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam event since he lost in the third round of the 2004 French Open to Gustavo Kuerten.
Can t have em all a subdued Federer said after the match.
When Wednesday began Federer s biggest problem was his shoes. The All England Club had asked him to change them saying the orange soled ones he wore during the first round violated the club s dress code calling for predominantly white attire.
But no one was talking about shoes after Stakhovsky s throwback performance which he described afterward as magic. Stakhovsky went to the net 96 times winning 64 percent of his points there and had 17 aces and 72 winners.
He was uncomfortable to play against said Federer a 17 time Grand Slam champion. I think he served and volleyed really well. It was difficult to get into that much rhythm clearly against a player like that.
After no breaks of serve in the first two sets Stakhovsky turned the match by winning the second set tiebreaker on a crisp serve and volley combination. He scored the first break of the match at 5 5 in the third set with a lunging forehand stab volley then served out the set. He may have had the upper hand on Federer but Stakhovsky knew there were other forces at work.
You re playing the guy and then you re playing his legend which is following him because he won it seven times Stakhovsky said. He s holding all possible career records here I think winning matches and everything. You re playing two of them.
When you re beating one you still have the other one who is pressing you. You re saying Am I about to beat him Is it possible '
Stakhovsky said he did not believe he could win until he was up a break in the fourth set and held serve at 2 1 after being behind by 15 40. Federer was only 1 of 8 on break point opportunities in the match.
I struggled maybe on the big points you know this time around again like I have for some time this season Federer said.
Since winning Wimbledon last year Federer lost in the quarterfinals at the United States Open the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at the French Open. But he refused to write an epitaph on his career.
I still have plans to play for many more years to come he said. It s normal that after all of a sudden losing early after being in the quarters 36 times people feel it s different.
Ben Rothenberg and Dave Seminara contributed reporting.
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