Golden girl Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick, the all-American poster boy of men's tennis, suffered their worst Wimbledon defeats on Thursday.
   
Sharapova endured the darkest moment of her sparkling career when world number 154, and Russian compatriot, Alla Kudryavtseva sent her spinning out in the second round.
   
Sharapova, the 2004 champion, became the latest marquee name to crash out at the All England Club in successive days following men's third seed Novak Djokovic's defeat to Marat Safin.
   
Sixth seed Roddick than joined the scrapheap when he lost 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.
   
Also exiting the tournament on a day of major shocks were men's ninth seed James Blake and women's 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova.  
   
"She had nothing to lose. I was far too tentative. My game wasn't there and she took advantage of it."
   
Kudryavtseva, who now plays China's Peng Shuai, then added insult to injury by revealing the frosty relationship between Sharapova and many of the other Russian women on tour.
   
Roddick, the runner-up in 2004 and 2005 to Roger Federer, slumped to his worst defeat in nine visits.
   
Tipsarevic now faces Russia's Dmitry Tursunov for a place in the last 16.
   
Roddick only returned to the tour at Queen's last week after a shoulder injury kept him out of the French Open and his lack of sharpness told in a three-hour match where he failed to convert any of his eight break points.
   
The American also had three set points in the fourth set.
 

Collated Wimbledon results on Thursday, the fourth day of the 2008 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeded player):
   
Men 2nd rd
   
Nicolas Kiefer (GER x27) bt Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 6-0, 6-3, 6-1
   
Arnaud Clement (FRA) bt Benjamin Becker (GER) 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3  
   
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS x17) bt Stefano Galvani (ITA) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3  
   
Rafael Nadal (ESP x2) bt Ernests Gulbis (LAT) 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3
   
Andy Murray (GBR x12) bt Xavier Malisse (BEL) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
   
Tommy Haas (GER) bt Tommy Robredo (ESP x23) 6-4, 6-4, 6-3     
   
Rainer Schuettler (GER) bt James Blake (USA x9) 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
   
Radek Stepanek (CZE x16) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB) 6-7 (1/7), 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 
   
Richard Gasquet (FRA x8) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) 6-2, 6-2 - retired
   
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) bt Andy Roddick (USA x6) 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)
   
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP x19) 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
   
Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA x14) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7/1)
   
Gilles Simon (FRA x28) bt Agustin Calleri (ARG) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
   

   
Women 2nd rd
   
Gisela Dulko (ARG) bt Lindsay Davenport (USA x25) - walkover
   
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) bt Sania Mirza (IND x32) 6-0, 4-6, 9-7
   
Venus Williams (USA x7) bt Anne Keothavong (GBR) 7-5, 6-2
   
Dinara Safina (RUS x9) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE) 6-3, 6-2        
   
Jelena Jankovic (SRB x2) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 6-1, 6-3
   
Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) bt Maria Sharapova (RUS x3) 6-2, 6-4
   
Shahar Peer (ISR x24) bt Emilie Loit (FRA) 6-3, 6-4 
   
Elena Dementieva (RUS x5) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3  
   
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x10) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
   
Nadia Petrova (RUS x21) bt Mara Santangelo (ITA) 6-4, 7-5
   
Ai Sugiyama (JPN) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA x22) 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-2