Sharapova crashes out to unknown Russian

(CNN) -- Third seed Maria Sharapova has been dumped out of Wimbledon in spectacular fashion, crashing to a straight sets defeat at the hands of little-known fellow- Russian Alla Kudryavtseva.

The 2004 champion failed to produce any sort of a challenge on Court One as she slumped to a 6-2 6-4 defeat at the hands of a player ranked 154th in the world.

The pair had faced each other only once before with Sharapova running out a straight-sets winner in the third round of the 2006 French Open, but the reigning Australian Open champion looked shaky from the first point.

Sharapova found herself facing a break point in only the second game of the opening set, but was spared early blushes when Kudryavtseva pushed a return wide.

However, Sharapova continued to struggle on her serve and another break point followed for her opponent in the sixth, with Kudryavtseva making the most of this opportunity with a fierce forehand down the line.

The 20-year-old Kudryavtseva must have been as baffled as the crowd at Sharapova's poor performance, but was happy to take any chances which were thrown her way.

Kudryavtseva had two more break points in the eighth, dispatching another forehand well beyond the reach of Sharapova to clinch the set in 32 minutes.

Sharapova at least showed some fight at the start of the second set when she claimed a break in the opening game. But the mistakes were never far away and a double-fault in the fifth allowed Kudryavtseva to get back on level terms.

The unseeded Russian then held her next service game while Sharapova continued to crumble at the other end of the court.

Kudryavtseva produced a stunning crosscourt forehand to break again and take a 4-2 lead, but was unable to hold onto the advantage as Sharapova hit back in the next game when her opponent -- who had already saved three break points -- pushed a forehand wide.

That was as good as it got though for Sharapova, who found herself facing match point in the 10th game after yet another double fault.

Kudryavtseva needed no second invitation, flashing a forehand just beyond the reach of Sharapova to wrap up one of the biggest shocks in recent Wimbledon history.

Afterwards, Sharapova admitted she had been completely outplayed by her compatriot. "I guess it just wasn't my day. She just did everything better than I did. She played much better, she hit the ball harder. She served and returned better. On grass, those are two important elements.

"Once you don't have a lot on the ball then your opponent can take advantage of that. Obviously, she had nothing to lose. She went for her shots. I was just pretty tentative. I can't really be happy about anything today," added Sharapova, whose only previous losses at Wimbledon since winning the title had been at the hands of the eventual champion.

Meanwhile, defending champion Venus Williams also reached the third round, but she was made to fight by British No.1 Anne Keothavong, eventually going through 7-5 6-2.

Williams, who was also troubled in her opener against another Briton Naomi Cavaaday, once again mixed awesome power with a litany of unforced errors against an opponent who belied her lowly ranking just inside the world's top 100.

The seventh seed, as she had done against Cavaday, started as if intent on sweeping her opponent off the court in the matter of minutes, taking a 2-0 lead with an early break.

But Keothavong, mixing her game up well from the baseline broke back for 2-2 and had no less than eight break points on the America's service in a marathon fifth game which went begging.

She continued to hold her own on service and had one more opportunity on the Williams' delivery until the four-time champion stepped up the pace in the 12th game.

After almost missing the ball entirely with her first serve at 30-30, Keothavong made two unforced errors to give Williams the set at 7-5.

An early break saw Williams move ahead at 3-1 and it was an advantage that she never looked likely to relinquish. Serving to stay in the match at 2-5 down, Keothavong swiftly fell three match points down and succumbed after just over 100 minutes on court.

"First of all, I think Anne played really well with deep shots, smart serves and did really well," said Williams. "I think I lost a bit of focus at 2-1 in the first set but got it back thankfully." she added.

Elsewhere, second seed Jelena Jankovic continued her serene progress with another straight sets victory. The Serb defeated Spanish wild card Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-3 on Court Two and is scheduled to face Williams in the quarterfinals as she seeks to win her first grand slam title.

French Open finalist Dinara Safina also enjoyed a comfortable victory, the ninth seed beating Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei 6-3 6-2.

However, 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova and 13th seed Vera Zvonareva were both sent packing on a day of surprise results.

Slovakian Hantuchova went down 6-3 4-6 6-1 to another Russian -- world No.42 Alisa Kleybanova -- on Court Three. Zvonareva lost a first set tie-break 12-10 and, after winning the second set 6-4, she lost the decider 6-3 to Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Tanasugarn is ranked 60th in the world but won a grasscourt warm-up title before Wimbledon and has reached the fourth round three times at the All England Club.

Later in the evening, fifth seed Elena Dementieva of Russia survived a scare before defeating Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 4-6 6-3 6-3 to also progress.