Serena, Venus and Wozniacki crash out

Defending champion Serena Williams, five-time champion Venus Williams and top seed Caroline Wozniacki were sent crashing out of Wimbledon yesterday as the women’s singles was rocked by a triple upset.

In the men’s field, Andy Murray treated royal couple Prince William and Catherine to a majestic performance while Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer also progressed.

Serena, who has only recently returned from a year-long lay-off caused by injury and life-threatening health problems, was stunned 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) by fiery Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli.

Big sister Venus lost 6-2, 6-3 to Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova, who had also defeated the American in the last eight at Wimbledon last year.

Pironkova will face Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova who skated past Belgian 19th seed Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-2.

And Danish world number one Wozniacki meanwhile will have to wait a while longer for her maiden Grand Slam triumph as she was beaten 1-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 by Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

Although clearly not at her best, Serena showed trademark resilience in the second set as she saved four match points before Bartoli eventually held her nerve to wrap up victory in 1hr 57 mins.

“Beating Serena is like a dream come true,” added Bartoli, a losing finalist in 2007.

“She’s been out for a year but she is still one of the greatest champions in the history of women’s tennis. It was not easy mentally to hang on after she managed to save the match points but I did so I’m very happy.”

“Of course, it’s a great performance. But tomorrow is another day so I have to stay extremely focused and not think too far ahead.”

Bartoli’s reward is a quarter-final against big-serving German wildcard Sabine Lisicki, who advanced to the last eight with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 dismissal of Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic.

Lisicki is now on course for a possible semi-final showdown with Russian fifth seed Maria Sharapova, who advanced to the quarter-finals after overcoming China’s Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2.

Sharapova faces Wozniacki’s conqueror Cibulkova in the quarter-finals.

In other side of the draw, Austrian world number 80 Tamira Paszek advanced to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time when she battled past Ksenia Pervak of Russia, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

Paszek faces Belarusian fourth seed Victoria Azarenka in the last eight. Azarenka breezed past Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Murray, the fourth seed, thrived in the 30-degree Centre Court heat to crush French 17th seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-2.

Murray, bidding to become Britain’s first men’s Wimbledon champion since Fred Perry in 1936, has now reached a fourth consecutive quarter-final.

His reward is a last eight clash against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez who beat Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot in a five-set marathon.

“I thought it was good - I think I served well, and I got a lot of free points off that,” said Murray, who has yet to make a Wimbledon final.

Murray, twice a semi-finalist, also revealed he’d been left red-faced by his unkempt appearance when he was introduced to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

“If I’d known they were coming, I would have shaved. I was thinking to myself as I came off I was sweaty and very hairy. I said to them, I’m sorry, I’m a bit sweaty. But, yeah, it was really nice,” said the Scotsman.

Second seed Novak Djokovic beat error-plagued Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals and a meeting with Tomic.

Great potential

The 18-year-old Australian qualifier is the youngest quarter-finalist since Boris Becker in 1986.

“He has great potential and believes he can win against the big players,” said Djokovic, who has lost just one of his last 48 matches.

Tomic, the world number 158, reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final by seeing off Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, a former semi-finalist, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.

Lopez, who put out three-time runner-up Andy Roddick in the third round, recovered from two sets to love down to defeat Poland’s Kubot 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (9/7), 7-5, 7-5.

Six-time champion Roger Federer recovered from losing the first set to move into the Wimbledon quarter-finals with a 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny.

Federer made serene progress through his first three matches at the All England Club without dropping a single set, but the third seed was unable to preserve that record against Youzhny on Court One.

The 29-year-old lost the opening set of the match in a tie-break, although he wasn’t too concerned about that as he quickly recovered his composure to see off the tenacious 18th seed and set up a last eight clash against France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

French 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the quarter-finals for the second successive year with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) win over Spain’s David Ferrer.

Other result: Nadal bt Del Potro 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.