Three-time runner-up Andy Roddick and women's second seed Vera Zvonareva crashed out of Wimbledon on Friday as Maria Sharapova survived a gutsy challenge from British 17-year-old Laura Robson. Eighth seed Andy Roddick, beloved by the Wimbledon crowd after his epic 2009 final defeat by Roger Federer, looked a shadow of his former self in a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 loss to Spanish serve-and-volleyer Feliciano Lopez.
Roddick had won all seven of his previous meetings with Lopez, but the Spaniard, twice a quarter-finalist, served brilliantly and stopped Roddick establishing his all-consuming power game. The world number 44's reward is a clash against either French ninth seed Gael Monfils or Lukasz Kubot of Poland for a quarter-final place.
Roddick, 28, has now failed to get past the fourth round in three of his last four visits to Wimbledon. "It's a great win. It's probably the best win of my career. But even leading two sets to love, I knew that he would still be a great fighter as he is such a great player," said Lopez, who fired 57 winners and made just seven unforced errors. He also out-aced Roddick 28-23. "It's a very important win. I was a little nervous towards the end as it's always difficult to close out a match." World number two Zvonareva followed Roddick out of the exit door when she slumped to a 6-2, 6-3 defeat against Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, the woman she beat in the semi-finals in 2010.
Pironkova next faces either five-time winner Venus Williams or Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez for a place in the quarter-finals. Russian 12th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was also a third-round loser with the former US Open and French Open champion slipping to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat by Belgian 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer.
Sharapova, the fifth seed, recovered from 4-1 down in the first set to reach the third round with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 win over Robson, playing on a wildcard and ranked at 254 in the world. The 2004 champion will face Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic for a place in the last 16 on Saturday.
"She started so well. She was going for her shots and serving so well that I couldn't get too many looks on her first serve," said Sharapova. "But I played better as the match went on. She's young and moving up and playing good tennis. I didn't play my best and I feel like I made more errors than I had to." Top seed Caroline Wozniacki eased into the third round playing on the same Court Two that sparked Serena Williams's bitter accusations of favouritism 24 hours earlier.
World number one Wozniacki defeated France's Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-3 in a second round match held over from Thursday and next faces Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova for a last-16 place. The 20-year-old Wozniacki, who has yet to get beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon, had no trouble in beating Razzano - playing here in honour of her fiance, who died in May - for the fifth time in five meetings. "Obviously I think I deserve to play on one of the bigger courts. Everyone wants to play in there," said Wozniacki.