Sharapova, Kvitova among first-round upset victims

LONDON» These are not the sorts of matches Maria Sharapova is supposed to lose, letting lead after lead slip away Tuesday against a qualifier ranked 132nd — and in the first round of Wimbledon, no less.

Then again, at this edition of The Championships, the initial 48 hours have provided more surprising exits than anyone’s accustomed to: A total of seven top-10 men’s and women’s seeds departed in the opening round, more than in any previous year in the professional era’s half-century.

That includes two-time champion Petra Kvitova, who was sent home by Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 a few hours before 2004 winner Sharapova folded against Vitalia Diatchenko in a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 loss she seemingly controlled time and again before dropping the last three games.

“Sometimes,” Sharapova said, “you put yourself in a better, or winning, position, and you don’t finish.”

A 15-month doping ban kept her out of the grasscourt Grand Slam tournament in 2016, and an injury sidelined her a year ago. It looked as if it would be a pleasant, straightforward return when she went ahead by a set and a break at 5-2.

Sharapova then served for the match at 5-3, but faltered. After being pushed to a third set, Sharapova went up a break at 2-1. That edge disappeared right away. She went up another break at 4-3. That advantage, too, was given right back. Sharapova’s collapse eventually ended, perhaps fittingly, with her 11th double-fault.

Since losing the first two Grand Slam matches of her career as a teenager, Sharapova was 49-1 in openers at majors, 13-0 at Wimbledon. She’s a former No. 1, now seeded 24th, who owns five Grand Slam titles. And Diatchenko? Repeatedly sidetracked by injuries of one sort or another — “I think I will write a book after I finish playing,” Diatchenko joked about her health history, even on a day she was visited by a trainer for groin and lower back issues — the 27year-old Russian came in 0-2 at Wimbledon and 8-25 overall in main-draw matches at all tour-level events.

“Everybody,” Diatchenko said afterward, “expects me to lose the match.”

But she didn’t, in part because Sharapova failed to win it.

That continued the kind of topsy-turvy tournament it’s been so far, of a piece with the sunnier-than-normal weather. The temperature has been in the low 80s there’s been nary a cloud, and some players have noticed the grass offering more unpredictable bounces.

There are other theories for what’s been causing these unprecedented results. On Tuesday, No. 8 Kvitova and No. 6 Caroline Garcia lost, a day after No. 4 Sloane Stephens, the reigning U.S. Open champion, and No. 5 Elina Svitolina did. Also Tuesday, No. 7 Dominic Thiem, the French Open runner-up last month, quit because of a bad back while down two sets and a break, and No. 10 David Goffin was beaten, a day after No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov lost.

“I really believe it: Here on grass, you don’t know what to expect,” said No. 1 Simona Halep, who joined fellow French Open champion Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as a straightset winner on Day 2. “Some players can play (their) best tennis. The top players can play a little bit less. You never know . ... Every match can go either way.”