Sharapova crashes out, Serena through

LONDON-Maria Sharapova’s hopes of winning a second Wimbledon title were shattered on Monday as the world No 1 was comprehensively beaten 6-4 6-3 by Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.

The world number 15 had top seed Sharapova on the back foot early in the first set, forcing her into a string of uncharacteristic errors, and did not let up until she had gained revenge for her semifinal defeat by the Russian last year.

Lisicki, who had complained about her second-round opponent Bojana Jovanovski’s grunting, was forced to endure Sharapova’s loud wails, but kept her concentration to break the French Open champion decisively in the 10th game of the first set.

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