London, June 2 (IANS) World No. 1 Maria Sharapova crashed out of Wimbledon Monday with a humbling fourth round straight-sets defeat to 15th seeded German Sabine Lisicki.
Lisicki, who lost to Sharapova in the semifinals last year, swept past the Russian 6-4, 6-3, ending her hopes of reaching a third Grand Slam final in 2012.
Sharapova saved two match points before Lisicki sealed the match with a second-serve ace to book a quarterfinal against either fellow German Angelique Kerber or former champion Kim Clijsters.
The result was the fifth time in six years that Sharapova has left Wimbledon before the quarterfinal stage.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams fended off a second-set comeback to defeat wild card Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in the fourth round.
After breezing through the first set, sixth seed Williams took her foot off the gas in the second to allow the French Openquarter finalist back into the match. But Williams closed out the decider to register a 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 win.
The world No. 65 Shvedova bows out having clinched only the second so-called golden set in the history of tennis by winning all 24 points against in one set against Sara Errani in the third round.
Williams will face either 24th seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy or the reigning champion Petra Kvitova in the quarterfinal.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
abr/vd/vm
