']]}Wimbledon king Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova endured jolting second-round losses to opponents outside the world top 100 in a freakishly dramatic 'Wednesday Wipeout' that saw seven players withdraw injured and the draw shredded.Second seed Victoria Azarenka, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and even Steve Darcis, man-of-the-moment after his opening day victory over Spaniard Rafa Nadal, were among the casualties as the medical bulletins piled up.
With title contenders dropping like flies, some before even striking a ball in anger, home favourite Andy Murray must be licking his lips after avoiding the scrapheap with an incident-free second round win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun.
Murray's hopes of emerging as "last man standing" to claim his first Wimbledon crown on Sunday week have soared after two rounds which have culled Nadal, Federer and sixth seed Tsonga from his half of the draw.
After a day of slips and slides, strained shoulders and aching knees, seven-times champion Federer was expected to glide serenely above the mayhem around him when he stepped out on Centre Court to play Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky.
Three hours later on what former champion John McEnroe called "the craziest day ever" the Swiss great's dream of an eighth title was over.
Playing old-school serve and volley tennis the like of which was supposed to have gone out of fashion, the 27-year-old world No.116 won 6-7(5) 7-6(5) 7-5 7-6(5) to snap third seed Federer's streak of reaching 36 consecutive grand slam quarter-finals.
