Maria Sharapova upset on day of big falls at Wimbledon

A wave of injuries and upsets hit the second round of Wimbledon on Wednesday, taking No. 2 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova of Russia out of the women’s competition.

Sharapova, hobbled by a hip injury, slipped once during the warmups and twice during play and required medical treatment during her 6-3, 6-4 loss to Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.

Sharapova left the court for treatment in the second set of her match against Larcher de Brito, who is ranked 131st in the world. Both women are loud grunters, but some of Sharapova’s shrieks might have been due to her physical discomfort.

Sharapova won the women’s title at Wimbledon in 2004 but has been back to the final only once since then. She was the runner-up at the French Open a few weeks ago.

“I can’t believe my eyes,” said tennis great Chris Evert, now an ESPN commentator. “Maria Sharapova must be devastated.”

Azarenka injured her knee during her first-round match and withdrew Wednesday before facing Flavia Pennetta of Italy

Giant-killer Steve Darcis of Belgium, who upset No. 5 Rafael Nadal in the first round, pulled out before facing Lukasz Kubot of Poland in the second round, citing an injury to his right shoulder. American John Isner tweaked his knee and retired from his second-round match with the score 1-1 against Adrian Mannarino of France.

No. 10 men’s seed Marin Cilic of Croatia also had to withdraw because of knee problems which he said had bothered him during the pre-Wimbledon Queen’s tournament.

Upsets also scrambled the fields. Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, seeded 12th on the women’s side, was upset by Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark lost to Petra Cetovska of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-2.

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