Alla Kudryavtseva caused one of the biggest upsets of the 2008 tennis season by ousting third seed Maria Sharapova in straight sets at Wimbledon.
The 2004 champion was beaten 6-2, 6-4 in the second round on Thursday.
This was Sharapova’s earliest exit at a Grand Slam since the 2003 US Open, where she lost in the second round to Emilie Loit. At the time, Sharapova was ranked at No. 54.
It was a shocking loss for the three-time Grand Slam champion, who struggled to keep the ball in play and her serves out of the net.
“I guess it wasn’t my day,” Sharapova said after the defeat. “She just did everything better than I did.”
Sharapova’s eighth double-fault gave Kudryavtseva her first match point at 5-4 in the second set. Kudryavtseva, the 154th-ranked player in the world, hit a cross court winner behind Sharapova to close out the match after just 84 minutes of play.
Alla Kudryavtseva will face China’s Shuai Peng in the third round.
Wow. Who could have predicted that one? Yikes.
Well, that removes one major hurdle for the Williams sisters.
Sharpova and Djokovic out before the 3rd round!? Christmas in June!
Poor Maria. She is a great athlete and will be back. Kudryavtseva’s remarks after the match though seemed to salt the wound.The Heraldsun reported:
“Kudryavtseva, the world No. 154, handed Sharapova an embarrassing 6-2 6-4 second-round defeat and then revealed how her frosty relationship with the world No. 3 inspired her win.
“I don’t know her well. I think I’m quite sure no one on the tour knows Maria well because she’s not a very talkative girl and not very outgoing,” Kudryavtseva said.
“But we were in the same team for Fed Cup. After that she started saying hello. That’s nice.
“It’s very pleasant to beat Maria. Why? Well, I don’t like her outfit. Can I put it this way? It’s a little too much of everything.
“It was one of the motivations to beat her.”
“If I’m not afraid to go play her and she’s world No.3, I’m not afraid she’s going to catch me in the dressing room and say, ‘You know what, you said you don’t like my outfit. You were wrong’.” Kudryavtseva said.
“I will say, “Sorry. That’s just my opinion’.”
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23930456-11088,00.html
Wow, that is priceless! Thanks for posting that, anythingbutlove!
All credit to Alla Kudryavtseva, another fine performance this year. Never really gave Sharapova the chance to settle. She would probably have beaten any of the other seeded players today.
I remember her taking Venus to 5-1 from last years championships then lost her cool and inexplicably fell apart. It is the nature of grass, a plucky opponent playing a sharp determined game can upset anyone. The game moves quickly on grass and Sharapova wasn’t allowed to even catch her breathe.
As for her post-match rant about Maria, I guess she is entitled to her own opinion.
I hope Venus is taking note…
Ouch! I like her!
Is this the same girl who beat Venus at the French a few years back and then tested positive for drugs, but she said it was due to a pregnancy, but she was only like 16? Her name seems familiar to me.
Will, are you referring to Sesil Karatantcheva? She just came back to the Tour a few months ago after completing her suspension.
Yes! Thanks Aaress. I was wondering why people weren’t mentioning her suspension!
Nothing will change for me ~ Maria still is a great champion, maybe not really her day. Champions do have bad days. When i read her post-match interview, i really admire how she took it positively and that this loss will motivate her to come back for more. And she did admit she was outplayed by her opponent.
I really don’t like the way Alla commented back ~ there is what we call tennis ethic. I’m not saying this because I’ve always been a Masha fan, but because anyone who talk that much about you is definitely irritating. =(
There have been quite shocking moments these early days of this year’s Wimbledon. Anyway, anyone who can you figure out some similarities between Novak and Maria? Well, it’s not just because they both like to spend some time chatting together before a tournament but because they’re ~ both Australian ‘08 champs… both seeded 3 in the tournament… both lost in the second round… both lost in straight sets… and both of them were beaten by Russians. Intertwined fate, huh, whatchu guys think? (Please don’t be hostile with this one)
Great observations SEF! You forgot to mention that they are both annoying and undeserving of their respective grand slams (especially dJOKERvic)!
Thank you Will but I’m sorry to disagree on some points. Well, Novak is a good player but since his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, he’s been acting like he’s the only man who can beat Federer and everyone else… he thinks ahead before the start of the tournament… and really has a big mouth. So I have to agree with you that he is in fact annoying. While for Maria, you see, she is my fave player and there is no way that I’ll hate her and bring her down. I hope you respect my choices and opinion.