LONDON - Former champion Maria Sharapova saved six match points before falling to Angelique Kerber in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Tuesday, ending her bid to win a second title at the All England Club a decade after her first. Fake Sports Jerseys . Five-time champion Serena Williams, meanwhile, struggled to even hit the ball over the net in a doubles match with sister Venus and pulled out after only three games with what officials called a viral illness. Sharapova, a five-time major champion, saved one match point at 5-2 down in the third set and five more in the final game before hitting a backhand long on the seventh. That gave the ninth-seeded Kerber a stirring 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 win on Centre Court in a match that lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes. "Its unbelievable," said the German, a semifinalist two years ago. "It was so tough (a) match. Every single set was so close. Marias a great player. I was just fighting, concentrating and focusing on myself. Im so happy to be in the quarters now." Kerber will next face 20-year-old Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard, the only woman to reach the semifinals this year at both the Australian Open and French Open. Bouchard beat Kerber in the fourth round at the French. Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17, was coming off her latest major championship at the French Open last month. "Its absolutely normal for people to have high expectations of me doing well in Grand Slam stages," Sharapova said. "I certainly do, as well. Today could have gone either way, and it didnt go my way." On a day when seven-time mens champion Roger Federer sailed into the quarterfinals, Serena was out of sorts from the moment the pre-match warmup began. She had trouble collecting tennis balls from the ball kids and missed completely on some practice strokes. The start of the second-round doubles against Kristina Barrois and Stefanie Voegele was put off for about 10 minutes while Serena sat in her chair and was examined by medical staff. In the third game, Serena hit four double-faults. She hit serves that bounced before reaching the net. Umpire Kader Nouni climbed down from his chair and walked over to speak to Serena. The sisters walked to the sideline holding hands, and the match was stopped. Serena wiped away tears as she left the court. The Wimbledon referees office and WTA said Serena had a viral illness. She left the grounds a few hours later in a tournament car with Venus. While Sharapova sought to dictate play with her big-swinging groundstrokes, Kerber played counter-attacking tennis and went for her shots when the opportunities came. The match featured high tension and intensity. Sharapovas shrieks grew louder and louder as the match wore on. Kerber went up 4-1 and saved two break points to lead 5-2 in the final set. She held a match point on Sharapovas serve, but the Russian hit a deep backhand that she couldnt handle. With Kerber serving for the match in the next game, Sharapova broke for 5-4. Then Kerber went up 0-40 on Sharapovas serve, but the Russian erased those three match points. Two more came and went. Sharapova twice earned game points but couldnt convert. Finally, on the sixth match point of the game, it ended with Sharapovas backhand error. Federer kept up his bid for a record eighth Wimbledon title by beating Tommy Robredo to reach the quarterfinals for the 12th time. Federer, who has not dropped a set in the tournament, overwhelmed the Spaniard 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 in just over 90 minutes. "All the things are happening that need to be happening to go deep in this tournament again," he said. Federers win set up an all-Swiss duel with Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka, who beat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-3 to make it to the quarterfinals for the first time. Eighth-seeded Milos Raonic became the first Canadian man to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Robert Powell in 1912, beating No. 10 Kei Nishikori of Japan 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) 6-3. The first woman into the semifinals was No. 23 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, who beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, 6-3 6-1. French Open runner-up Simona Halep breezed into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan. Her next opponent will be 2013 finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany, who overcame shoulder trouble to defeat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. ___ Sports Jerseys . "Today was a very great day for me. It was always my dream to be good in GS," Wierather said. "I took quite a long time to get there. It feels awesome to have my first win (in GS)." Wierather leads overall with 595 points from Lara Gut (568), who finished second, and Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany (535). Authentic Sports Jerseys . Simona Halep of Romania claimed the fifth title of her career by beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the womens final. After trading sets, Gasquet trailed 4-3 in the decider but broke back to 4-4 in a game that went to seven deuces with Kukushkin constantly failing on his forehand shots.(SportsNetwork.com) - The shock of Daniel Alfredssons departure from Ottawa has probably started to lighten a bit now that the NHL season is a few weeks old, but Senators fans may still have to blink a few times on Wednesday night when they see the veteran forward in a Detroit Red Wings sweater. The Sens will get a look at the definition of their past as they visit Alfredsson and the Red Wings for the first time since this season. You can catch all of the action live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt and get in-depth player stats, Twitter Trender and more on TSN.cas GameTracker. Alfredsson sent waves through the NHL, especially in Ottawa, when he departed the Sens as a free agent by signing a one-year, $5.5 million deal with Detroit on July 5. It ended a relationship with the city and franchise that began when the Senators took the Swede in the sixth round of the 1994 draft. "It was a very tough decision, especially when it happened fairly quickly. But the way I looked at it at the time and still do today, its a huge challenge for myself personally, both on and off the ice," Alfredsson told NHL.com. "Its a big challenge for our family and I think I will look back at this down the road as something that was a stepping stone for me in my life, in a lot of different areas." The 40-year-old played in 17 seasons with Ottawa before departing as the clubs all-time leader in goals (426), assists (682), points (1,108) and games played (1,108). He was selected to six All-Star Games in that span and served as the captain of the Senators from 1999-2013. Alfredsson, who has a goal and eight assists in 10 games with the Red Wings, will face the Senators again in Detroit on Nov. 23 just over a week before his first scheduled trip to Ottawa on Dec. 1. Ottawa head coach Paul MacLean is tasked with trying to keep his team focused on the task at hand and not on the reunion with Alfredsson. "I think Bobby Ryan went back to Anaheim and it was emotional for him," said MacLean. "Im not going to be able to speak for Daniel. Were just going there to play the Red Wings. Thats all my focus is on is were playing the Red Wings. Thats a big enough task in my book." The Sens and Red Wings will meet four times in total this season after realignment shifted Detroit from the Western to Eastern Conference. The Senators and Red Wings both now reside in the new-look Atlantic Division. Sports Jerseys Sale . Detroit has won four straight over Ottawa, scoring 19 goals over that time, and has not lost to the Senators since Jan. 12, 2008 on the road. The Red Wings have won two straight and five of the previous six meetings at home in this series. Alfredsson and the rest of the Red Wings offense was shut down in Mondays 1-0 shootout loss to the visiting San Jose Sharks. Jimmy Howard made 27 saves through overtime to get credited with his 17th career shutout, but allowed the only goal of the tiebreaker. "That was two really good teams playing some great defense out there," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. "Scoring chances were very few on both sides of the ice." The Red Wings lost their second game in a row, but are 4-1-1 in their past six games overall. Detroit will be without defenseman Jonathan Ericsson for at least the next two weeks due to a partially dislocated left shoulder. Niklas Kronwall, who intended to play on Wednesday, took a puck to the face at practice and will be a game time decision. The team recalled Xavier Oullett from Grand Rapids, who will step in if Kronwall is unable to play. The Sens, meanwhile, had a two-game win streak halted with Saturdays 3-1 home setback to the Edmonton Oilers. Chris Neil had a third-period goal and backup netminder Robin Lehner made 18 saves as Ottawa failed to record a point for the third time this season (3-3-2). "I dont think we had enough traffic at their net. We didnt get to their net probably as much as we needed to," noted MacLean. "If we could have got a little more traffic it probably would have helped us a lot, but they did a good job of boxing us out." As the Senators prepare to face their former star they recalled 20-year-old forward Mika Zibanejad from Binghamton on Tuesday. The sixth overall pick of the 2011 draft ranked fourth in scoring for the Sens last season, notching 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists in 42 games. The Swede had two goals and five assists in six games with the B-Sens of the American Hockey League this season. No. 1 goaltender Craig Anderson is likely to get the start tonight for the Sens and is just 2-5-0 with a 3.14 goals against average in 10 games (7 starts) versus the Red Wings. Howard is unbeaten in three starts against the Sens, going 3-0-0 with a 3.00 GAA. ' ' '
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