Wozniacki cries sour grapes following loss

LONDON — Caroline Wozniacki complained about the flying insects at Wimbledon, demanding that bug spray be brought to the court.

She wondered aloud whether play should be halted because of a brief drizzle.

And the No. 2-seeded Wozniacki was not exactly gracious in defeat after staving off five match points, but not the sixth, in what became a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss to 35th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in the second round at the All England Club on Wednesday.

The reigning Australian Open champion’s latest lackluster showing at Wimbledon made her the fifth top-eight seeded woman to exit by the end of Day 3.

Wozniacki said Makarova “got a little lucky” and added, “I would be very surprised if you saw her go far.”

Asked what she thought of those remarks, Makarova laughed and replied: “Well, I don’t know what to say. Yeah, maybe I was lucky today. Good for me. Thanks, God.”

While both Williams sisters moved into the third round, as did past U.S. Open runners-up Madison Keys and Karolina Pliskova, among the women, and Roger Federer won 35 consecutive points on his serve while extending his Wimbledon set streak to 26 in a row, it was Wozniacki’s departure that counted as the closest thing to big news on Wednesday.

She is a former No. 1 who recently claimed her first Grand Slam title. She won a

grass-court tuneup tournament last weekend.

She had managed to convince herself this was going to be her year to shine at the All England Club, the only major where she’s never been past the fourth round. In addition to her title on the hard courts in Australia, she’s twice been the runnerup on that surface at the U.S. Open, and she’s been a quarterfinalist twice on the French Open’s red clay.

“It’s frustrating,” Wozniacki said, “because I feel like I could have gone and done something really great here.”

Clive Brunskill / Getty Images Caroline Wozniacki returns against Ekaterina Makarova during a second-round match at the Wimbledon Championships in London on Wednesday.