SAD ROMANCE: Maria Sharapova looks on as her boyfriend, 29th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria (inset), falls to 55th-ranked Grega Zemlja of Slovenia. (Getty Images (2))
LONDON — With girlfriend Maria Sharapova cheering him from the stands, Grigor Dimitrov, one of tennis’ rising stars, lost in the second round at Wimbledon yesterday in a five-set, rain-delayed match.
After battling back to make it 30-all in his service game with Slovenian Grega Zemlja, Dimitrov fell as rain picked up, hurting his hip.
“I’m not serving,” he told the chair umpire as he sat, staging an impromptu sit-down protest about the slippery conditions. The action halted for an injury timeout, after which he came back to win the match, but two games later the 29th-seeded Bulgarian fell to 55th-ranked Zemlja 3-6, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4, 11-9.
Joining the 22-year-old Dimitrov in going home early was the player who stunned Roger Federer in one of Wimbledon’s greatest upsets.
Two days after eliminating the seven-time champion Centre Court, Sergiy Stakhovsky fell to Jurgen Melzer in four sets in the third round at the All England Club.
The 116th-ranked Ukrainian couldn’t replicate the serve-and-volley magic that stifled Federer, losing 6-2, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 to the left-handed Austrian. While Federer struggled with Stakhovsky’s serve, Melzer broke him six times.
“I’m just a little disappointed that I got so blinded by the game I produced with Roger that I kept going with the same game I played against Jurgen, which was just not right,” Stakhovsky said.
Stakhovsky, who called for the trainer and had his right ankle taped in the first set, kept coming to the net, even though Melzer was zeroing in on his serve.
“I think I just played stupid,” the Ukrainian said.
Doing everything right so far has been second-seeded Andy Murray, who trounced Tommy Robredo, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5, to cruise into the fourth round. The U.S. Open champ hasn’t dropped a set this week in his bid to become the first British player to win the men’s trophy in 77 years.
“I played my best match of the tournament so far,” said Murray, who remains on course to meet No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final.
Fourth-seeded David Ferrer and No. 13 Tommy Haas advanced. No. 15 Nicolas Almagro was knocked out by Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in a third-round match.
Among the women, No. 7 Angelique Kerber was ousted in three sets in second-round play by Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi. Kerber became the sixth top-10 seeded woman to go out.
With four of the top-10 men also gone after the second round, it’s the worst performance by the top 10 at any Grand Slam in the 45-year history of the Open era.
For the second straight day, play was disrupted by rain. Four men’s singles matches didn’t start and were rescheduled for today, and three women’s singles matches were suspended by darkness.
Among the uncompleted matches, 2011 champion and eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova was down a break in the third set to Ekaterina Makarova, 3-6, 6-2, 2-1.
Stakhovsky said he struggled to cope with all the distractions and media interviews that came his way after the Federer match.
“It was quite hard for me because [Thursday] was a busy day,” he said. “Everybody wanted to chat. Everybody wanted a piece. It just takes some time and energy off.”
Murray was dominant in beating the 29th-ranked Robredo. It was Murray’s 14th straight match win on grass, a run that goes back to last year’s London Olympics, where he beat Federer for the gold medal.
Murray lost serve only once and finished with 40 winners against 14 errors.
“I struck the ball very well from the start of the match,” he said. “I had a lot of winners tonight and that was probably the most pleasing part because I did not serve very well on the first couple of matches.”
Murray will next face either No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny or Viktor Troicki.
In other men’s play, Ferrer won an all-Spanish encounter against Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the third round for a sixth consecutive year.
Only six men and four women — 10 total — among the top 10 seeds reached the third round — tying the performance at Wimbledon in 1996 (four men, six women) and the French Open in 1998 (two men, eight women).
It’s the worst performance by the top-10 women’s seeds at any Slam in the Open era.