Big day of pull-outs, upsets!

Injuries knocked seven players out of Wimbledon on Wednesday -- including second-seeded Victoria Azarenka, the man who stunned Rafael Nadal in the first round, and the American who won the longest match in tennis history. The start of Day 3 of the grass-court Grand Slam was less about the tennis results and more about a casualty list that included Azarenka, Steve Darcis and John Isner.
Also withdrawing with injuries were 10th-seeded Marin Cilic (left knee) and 2006 quarterfinalist Radek Stepanek (left hamstring).

Isner, the 18th-seeded American, retired during his second-round match against Adrian Mannarino of France with a left knee injury after only two games. French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was forced to retire from his Wimbledon second round match against Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis with a knee injury. The 28-year-old Tsonga, a semi-finalist in 2012, needed a medical time-out to have his left knee taped just after he had dropped the second set, 6-3. Tsonga had won the first set, 6-3. But when he dropped the third set 6-3, he gave up.

The tournament also lost a former champion, 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt, but he managed to play a match. The Australian was ousted by 189th-ranked German qualifier Dustin Brown, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2. The dreadlocked Brown, who switched nationality from Jamaica in 2010, was in tears after beating the former No. 1-ranked player. Brown has played mainly on the lower-tier challenger circuit in 2013 and had never won a match at Wimbledon until this year.

Former Wimbledon champion and third seed Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the tournament in the second round by Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito on a dramatic Wednesday. The tall Russian was scheduled on Court Two and never looked happy against a tenacious opponent ranked 131 in the world, losing 6-3 6-4 to leave the women’s draw in tatters. Ana Ivanovic, the former world number one, was knocked out of the Wimbledon second round on Wednesday by Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, the reigning girls’ champion. The 12th seeded Serb, who made the Wimbledon semifinals in 2007, was beaten 6-3, 6-3 in 63 minutes.

Playing with a tape on her right ankle, former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki slumped to a 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Petra Cetkovska in the second round. Andy Murray made his way safely through to the third round on a remarkable day of injuries and retirements at Wimbledon.  Murray did not put a foot wrong as he saw off Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 6-3, 7-5.