The exit of Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic rocked the All England Club on Wednesday and 24 hours later 2004 Wimbledon winner Maria Sharapova and twice runner-up Andy Roddick were also ejected.

On Friday, the biggest name in the women’s draw, top seed and newly-crowned French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, was toppled in round three.

The quartet were not the only players forced to catch early flights out of London: as the event goes into its second week, only six of the men’s top 16 seeds and eight of the women’s have made it through to the fourth round.

For the men, it was their worst performance here since 2002 when only two top-16 seeds survived the first week. While Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have ruthlessly cast aside their opponents to reach the last 16, more significantly for local fans, 12th seed Andy Murray also survived to keep alive Britain’s hopes of ending the 72-year wait for a home-grown men’s champion.

The seeds who were not so lucky included Djokovic (3), Nikolay Davydenko (4), David Ferrer (5), Roddick (6), David Nalbandian (7), James Blake (9), Tomas Berdych (11), Paul-Henri Mathieu (14), Fernando Gonzalez (15) and Radek Stepanek (16).

Little-known Russian Alla Kudryavtseva and Chinese doubles specialist Zheng Jie had little in common when they walked through the All England Club gates last Monday.

By the end of the week, both had been elevated to superstar status as they sent three-times Grand Slam champion Sharapova and world number one Ivanovic packing.

Fans were stunned when Kudryavtseva, the daughter of a Greco-Roman world champion wrestler, floored third seed Sharapova in the second round and then the 1.85-metre tall Ivanovic was blown off by the diminutive Zheng.

“Everybody can present a challenge. Everybody is hungry. This girl that beat me... she might not win the tournament but she beat me and it probably made her tournament,” Sharapova said after winning only six games against her 154th-ranked opponent.

French Open runner-up Dinara Safina (9), Daniela Hantuchova (10), last year’s Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli (11), Patty Schnyder (12), Vera Zvonareva (13) and Victoria Azarenka (16) were also felled in the first week.

With both draws depleted, few would now bet against four-times champion Venus Williams contesting the women’s final with her sister Serena on Saturday, followed by Federer and Nadal playing out Act III of their intriguing Wimbledon rivalry in the men’s final the following day. (Reuters)

Nadal wins race against time

Rafael Nadal chalked up a late-night win over Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer in the third round on Saturday. Nadal won 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-3 and next neets Mikhail Youznhy, who won a five-set marathon over Radek Stepanek 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3. Croatian Marin Cilic upset France’s 14th seed Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (6).