Story highlights
Sergei Stakhovsky exits Wimbledon at third round stage
Ukrainian had upset defending champion Roger Federer
29th seed Grigor Dimitrov exits to Slovenian Grega Zemlja
Home favorite Andy Murray cruises into second week
It did not take long for Sergiy Stakhovsky to be handed a sober dose of reality after his upset defeat of seven-time champion Roger Federer, the Ukrainian outsider exiting in the next round at Wimbledon Friday.
Stakhovsky caused one of the biggest shocks in the history of the tournament on Centre Court on a crazy Wednesday at SW19, but was banished to Court Three for his match against experienced Austrian Jurgen Melzer.
Lacking the inspiration he showed against third seed Federer, and hampered by a fall that led to the 27-year-old having his ankle strapped, Stakhovsky went down 6-2 2-6 7-5 6-3.
Read: Federer stunned by Ukrainian unknown
It left Melzer as the first man into the last 16, where he will play promising young Pole and 24th seed Jerzy Janowicz.
He beat the higher ranked and 15th seed Nicolas Almagro, 7-6 6-3 6-4, to reach the fourth round for the second straight year at Wimbledon.
Stakhovsky joins the tournament’s other great giantkiller, Belgian Steve Darcis, in being unable to capitalize on a famous victory.
Darcis, who stunned Rafael Nadal on the opening Monday, scratched before his second round match as he joined the long list of injury casualties which has marked this year’s grass court grand slam.
Read: Nadal exits to Belgian Darcis in stunning first day upset
Stakhovsky was preceded on Court Three by Bulgarian 29th seed Grigor Dimitrov, the boyfriend of Maria Sharapova.
The Russian superstar, herself a victim of an unseeded player two days ago, watched as Dimitrov slipped to a five-set defeat, 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-4 11-9, to Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja, in a match carried over from the previous night.
Steady drizzle made for tricky conditions for the players on the outside courts.
Read: Sharapova crashes out to unseeded Portuguese player
Dubbed the “Baby Federer”, the 22-year-old Dimitrov often showed his displeasure at the surface as he joined the Swiss maestro on the sidelines.
There were no such problems for Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer as he completed his second round match against compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut, but was taken to four sets.
Home hopes in the women’s singles were boosted by Laura Robson as she breezed into the third round with a 6-4 6-1 defeat of Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia.
And the Wimbledon crowd were given the perfect end to the day’s play as second seed Andy Murray cruised past Spain’s Tommy Robredo, winning 6-2 6-4 7-5 in two hours under the roof of the famous Centre Court.
