Wimbledon Day 3 - Wimbledon Magic in the Air, Upsets and Injuries EVERYWHERE!!

Sergiy Stakhovsky stunned Roger Federer on Centre Court.

What a Wimbledon this has been!!! I am still in a state of ABSOLUTE shock!!!! First, Nadal out to Darcis, and now Roger Federer to little known Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky. That ended Federer's mindblowing streak of 36 straight Grand Slam quarterfinals, and marked his earlier loss at a Grand Slam since the 2003 French Open I believe! Now he will fall out of the top 4 after Wimbledon. What an absolute stunner, at least to me!!! Stakhovsky's net rushing tactics worked and this was a fitting end to an already shocking Day 3 at Wimbledon...

Qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito knocked out Maria Sharapova.

As Stakhovsky and Federer were battling it out on Centre Court, world number 131 Michelle Larcher de Brito was screaming to victory on Court 2 against another fellow shrieker Maria Sharapova. I had no words after this happened, since Sharapova has been in great form and hasn't been upset like this since...almost never! In straight sets also! 6-3, 6-4 to the 20-year old Portuguese, who showed great fighting spirit and aggression. She continued to go for her shots despite wasting four match points in the deciding game. The bottom half of the draw really opens up for a surprise finalist, as 8th seed Petra Kvitova is the highest seed remaining after more surprising news on Day 3...

With Maria Sharapova out, surely Victoria Azarenka would take advantage and reach the final? Not to be, as the knee injury she sustained in her first round match forced her to withdraw minutes before her match against Flavia Pennetta. With Sara Errani upset in the first round, the next two highest seeds were 8th seed Petra Kvitova and 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki on the bottom half of the draw. Kvitova advanced to the third round, though not the way she wanted as she received a walkover against Yaroslava Shvedova due to her arm injury. Wozniacki suffered an ankle injury early in her match against Petra Cetkovska and was clearly hampered. She went down tamely, 2-6, 2-6. On her Centre Court debut, teenager and rising star Eugenie Bouchard took out former world number 1 and 12th seed Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. The 22nd seed Sorana Cirstea fell in two tiebreaks to Camila Giorgi, who reached the fourth round last year. In yet another upset, 27th seed Lucie Safarova fell in three tough sets to Karin Knapp, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The upsets didn't stop, as finally, another Serbian and former world no.1 16th seed Jelena Jankovic went out in straight sets against fellow Serbian Vesna Dolonc. The bottom half of the draw was kicked wide open, as the only seeds in round three are: 17th seed Sloane Stephens (edged Petkovic 8-6 in the third), 15th seed Marion Bartoli (beat McHale), 8th seed Petra Kvitova (aforementioned walkover), 25th seed Ekaterina Makarova (scraped through Muguruza in 3 sets), 19th seed Carla Suarez Navarro (recovered to beat Lucic-Baroni), 20th seed Kirsten Flipkens (defeated Jovanovski), and 29th seed Alize Cornet (routed Hsieh).

With the courts slipping everyone up, the men's side was just as affected as the women's side. Just like the women, two major contenders in Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were knocked out. 2nd seed Andy Murray looks to take advantage and reach the final after a straight sets win over Yen-Hsun Lu to reach the third round. However, several players were taken out without a chance as there were 5 withdrawals or retirements on the men's side, bringing the total up to 7 withdrawals or retirements on Day 3! Nadal killer Steve Darcis withdrew with a shoulder injury against Lukasz Kubot who faces 25th seed Benoit Paire in the third round, one of the few remaining seeds. The big guy 18th seed John Isner retired with a knee injury tied 1-1 against Adrian Mannarino, who faces journeyman Dustin Brown, who took out 2002 Wimbledon champ Lleyton Hewitt in fourt sets. 24th seed Jerzy Janowicz was up 6-2, 5-3 on Radek Stepanek, when Stepanek retired with an unspecified injury. Ernest Gulbis went through against 6th seed and two-time Wimbledon semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when Tsonga retired with a knee injury. 10th seed Marin Cilic also withdrew citing the same injury against Kenny de Schepper who faces 22nd seed Juan Monaco. As this Wimbledon unfolds, I hope it can bring more stability! I like the occasional upset, but this is just too much!