Maria Sharapova has failed to make the Wimbledon quarter-finals for a seventh time in eight years after the former champion fell to German No5 seed Angelique Kerber 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 in the fourth round.
A winner at Roland Garros less than a month ago, Sharapova saved six match points but after hitting a perfect lob, struck an inexcusable forehand in the net to offer Kerber on the seventh.
And this time, the Russian sent a backhand long to surrender to the German, who moved into her second Wimbledon quarter-final and the third one in any major.
Sharapova had broken Kerber as she was serving for the match at 5-3 but was unable to capitalise on the lifeline she got.
“I gave myself a chance to come back in the match after losing the first set. After a slow start to the third, I felt like I worked too hard to let it go the easy way,” said Sharapova.
“I did everything I could in the end to try to save those (match points), but I didn’t save the last one.”
Kerber won just six more points than Sharapova, who committed 49 unforced errors. The No9 seed, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon in 2012, next faces Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the last eight.
Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon winner, is the last remaining former grand slam champion in the draw after the Czech overcame her compatriot Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 7-5 in the quarter-finals yesterday.
Kvitova will be part of an all- Czech all-lefty semi-final after Lucie Safarova swept past Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-1.