Wimbeldon 2008 sees Miss Sharapova defeated by a 154 ranked Kudryavtseva

Only four days played at the 2008 Championships and there have been two huge upsets. Following Wednesday's exit of Novak Djokovic, the men's third seed, there was an equally dramatic defeat for the women's third seed and 2004 champion, Maria Sharapova, who was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Alla Kudryavtseva, a 20-year-old ranked 154 in the world.

While Djokovic's departure could be classed as explosive, Sharapova's went out with a whimper. Although the victory was celebrated jubilantly by Kudryavtseva, it was her higher ranked compatriot who engineered her own downfall.

Sharapova committed eight double faults, three of them in one game in the first set, served poorly throughout and never managed to get her forehand working effectively. Meanwhile, all Kudryavtseva had to do was play steadily, throw in the occasional inspired shot, and she was home and dry for the biggest win of her career.

The tougher things got for Sharapova, the louder the notorious shriek accompanying her shots grew. But tennis matches are not won by shrieks, rather by solid play and in this respect Sharapova came up short.

The third seed, who was widely expected to enjoy an undemanding afternoon, was never at the races. A break down early on, she went on to lose the first set in 32 minutes.

No need for the alarm bells yet, surely. The 2004 champion has fought back from such situations before. But she remains clearly handicapped by problems with her shoulder, which reduce her serving speed to a near-laughable level at times. Add to that a wonky forehand and the potential for disaster is big.

The first real alarm bells rang when Kudryavtseva, wallopping away and enjoying the odd spot of good fortune in the way of bad bounces, broke for a 4-2 second-set lead with a scorching cross-court forehand.

Defiantly, Sharapova broke right back and then levelled at 4-4 in the shakiest game imaginable. Down 15-40, she appeared to have dropped her serve, only to be saved by a Hawk-Eye ruling that a ball called out against her was in fact just in. Service was held in rousing style with an ace, but by now saving the match was looking a tough proposition.

Kudryavtseva held serve easily for 5-4 and, serving to stay in the tournament, Sharapova let slip a 40-15 lead to lose four points on the trot. One of these was a bad bounce, one a double fault and the death blow was applied with a forehand from the Kudryavtseva that clipped the baseline.

Next up for Kudryavtseva is China’s Shuai Peng in the third round.