World No.1 Maria Sharapova has crashed out in a dramatic start to Wimbledon’s Magic Monday.
While titleholder Petra Kvitova and four-times champion Serena Williams survived three-set scares to set up a blockbuster quarter-final, Sharapova is heading home after falling 6-4 6-3 to 22-year-old German Sabine Lisicki.
All 16 men’s and women’s fourth-round matches were scheduled on a bumper program and it didn’t take long for one of the game’s biggest drawcards to bow out.
A surprise semi-finalist as a wildcard last year, the 15th-seeded Lisicki delivered a spectacular encore to blow Sharapova away.
It was all over in 84 minutes as the powerhouse German unleashed a second-serve ace on her third match point to shellshock the 2004 winner and newly-crowned French Open champion.
“It’s just unbelievable. For the third time I’ve beaten the French Open champion here so I’m just so happy,” Lisicki said.
“I’ve lost my three previous meetings to her, but I just went for my shots and from the first point I felt great out there.
“It’s my favourite tournament. I love playing on grass, I love the crowd out here so I just love it.”
After reaching the final last year, Sharapova’s shock defeat leaves the Russian in danger of relinquishing her top ranking to Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
Lisicki, meanwhile, moves on to a quarter-final on Tuesday against eighth-seeded compatriot Angelique Kerber, who ruthlessly ended the retiring Kim Clijsters’ Wimbledon career with a 6-1 6-1 mauling of Belgium’s retiring former world No.1.
Williams earlier needed almost two hours to shake off Kazakh sensation Yaroslava Schvedova 6-1 2-6 7-5 to advance to her 10th Wimbledon quarter-final.
Williams sent down a Wimbledon-record 23 aces to edge past China’s Jheng Jie in the third round and needed 12 more to see off the streaky Shvedova.
The 65th-ranked Schvedova had been the talk of the tournament after becoming the first woman ever to win all 24 points in a set during her third-round rout of French Open runner-up Sara Errani.
But despite fighting gamely Shvedova eventually came unstuck with two double-faults at 5-all in the deciding set.
Kvitova awaits the sixth-seed Williams on Tuesday after the Czech staged her own fightback to beat 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-5 6-1.
Williams beat the then unseeded Kvitova 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 in the 2010 Wimbledon semi-finals before going on to win her 13th grand slam title.
But the 30-year-old remains stranded one major shy of fellow American great Pete Sampras’s 14 and is desperate to break the drought.
“I haven’t played her for a while. I’m looking forward to it,” Williams said.
“I’ve got nothing to lose. Bottom line, I know I can play better. If I couldn’t, that would be a problem.”
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska had a much smoother ride to the last eight, the Pole outclassing Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi 6-2 6-3.
Radwanska is yet to drop a set this campaign and next faces either Russian Maria Kirilenko or China’s Peng Shaui for a semi-final spot.
Earlier, Austrian Tamira Paszek continued her great run to be the first woman through to the quarter-finals after a 6-2 6-2 defeat of another Italian, 21st seed Roberta Vinci.
