Cepelova stuns Muguruza

French Open champion beaten in straight sets; Stosur ousted

Second seed Garbine Muguruza, bidding to add the Wimbledon crown to her French Open title, was beaten in the second round on Thursday by Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-3, 6-2 in the shock of the tournament so far.

Spaniard Muguruza, who lost to Serena Williams in last year's final, had been one of the favourites for the title.

Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori struggled into the third round while Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic and Spanish veteran David Ferrer exited as the All England Club played catch-up after a rain-lashed two days.

Nishikori saw off France’s world number 547 Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court and goes on to meet Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

Nineteen-year-old Bencic bowed out when the seventh seed retired from her second round match against American qualifier Julia Boserup.

Bencic was 4-6, 0-1 down on Court Three to the world number 225 who is making her Grand Slam debut.

Bencic, who missed the clay court season with a back injury, had only completed her first round match late Wednesday and struggled on Thursday with what appeared to be a wrist problem.

Boserup, 24, will face Andrea Petkovic of Germany or Russia’s Elena Vesnina for a place in the last 16.

Spain’s David Ferrer, the 13th seed, lost to fellow 34-year-old — and grass court specialist — Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 6-4, 6-3.

Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic, regarded as a dark horse for the title, brushed past Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 6-2.

Raonic next faces Jack Sock of the United States.
Sock’s compatriot Sam Querrey, the 28th seed, eased past Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 for the dubious honour of facing defending champion Novak Djokovic for a place in the last 16.

Britain’s Dan Evans also booked a date to remember when his 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-1 win over Ukrainian 30th seed Aleksandr Dolgopolov handed him a third round clash with seven-time champion Roger Federer. 

Sixty singles matches were scheduled for Thursday after only 90 minutes of action was possible on the outside courts on Wednesday.

Five-time women’s champion Venus Williams ignored her exile to Court 18 to battle past Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Williams, the 36-year-old eighth seed, next plays Russian 29th seed Darya Kasatkina for a place in the last 16.

German fourth seed and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber beat Varvara Lepchenko of the United States 6-1, 6-4.

There were also second round wins for Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep and ninth-seeded American, Madison Keys.

Highly-regarded Austrian teenager Dominic Thiem, seeded eight, takes on the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely, who shocked Djokovic in Monte Carlo this year.

Australian Bernard Tomic notched up his 150th Tour-level match-win with a 7-6 (3) 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 win over Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot, who had recorded his first Grand Slam singles match-win — and Tour-level grass court victory — in the first round.

But Tomic was in hot water off the court for using the word ‘retard’ in a post-match interview the previous day.

A leading learning disability charity has called on him to apologise.