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Serena Williams may have come into Wimbledon looking unbeatable, but Sabine Lisicki had other ideas about their fourth-round match.
The 23rd-seeded German managed to pull off the upset of the tournament, bouncing the five-time Wimbledon champion, 6:2, 1:6, 6:4, Monday on Centre Court at the All-England Club. Williams (who won the French Open in early June) came into the match riding a 19-set winning streak at Wimbledon, dating back to the London Olympics, and fought off a match point before falling to the player known as Boom Boom because of her serve.
So much for Williams’s 34-match winning streak.

Sabine Lisicki.

There are shocks and then there are shocks. What happened to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the first week here was pretty spectacular. What happened on Monday to Serena Williams was nothing short of unbelievable. Five times the champion and on a winning streak of 34 matches, the American was an overwhelming favourite to win the title for a sixth time, even more so after the early exits of Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. But having led 3-0 and 4-2 in the final set, she slipped out of the Championships, beaten 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 by Germany’s Sabine Lisicki.
It was a brilliant performance from Lisicki (a semi-finalist here in 2010) at her best on grass and a player who on her day can be a match for anyone. She did a great job of keeping Williams off-balance and wrong-footing the American. But what was most unusual was the way the world No1 let slip a commanding lead in the decider and for once, when the big moments came, tightened up and was found wanting.
At 31 the American has been through enough ups and downs in her career to put things in perspective, including a near-death experience in 2011, after she suffered a pulmonary embolism because of blood clots in both lungs. Having won 75 of her 78 matches since losing in round one at the French Open last year and less than a month since winning the Roland Garros title for a second time, she said she “couldn’t be more disappointed”. But even as she praised Lisicki for her effort, she looked and sounded as if she was in a state of shock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpJPs417v4I

Sloane Stephens of the U.S. reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year, beating 19-year-old Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
The 17th-seeded Stephens is the last American singles player left at the grass-court tournament.
“I probably couldn’t be more disappointed” – Williams said. “I think I may have backed off of a success. I was playing something successful. I didn’t continue that path. The result didn’t go the way it could have gone had I continued to play the way I did in the second set.”
After dropping the first set, Williams looked to be cruising, winning nine straight games to take a 3-0 lead in the third. The players then traded breaks to give Williams a 4-2 lead, but the American couldn’t win another game despite having four break points at 4-3.
Those would have given her a chance to serve for the match. Instead, Lisicki held, broke again, and converted her second match point with a forehand winner.
Williams said her serve – usually her main weapon – let her down in the third set.
“I felt that I was on the verge of winning” – she said. “At that point I just was physically unable to hold serve. … You have to be ready and willing to hold your serve. I wasn’t willing or able, probably didn’t even want to hold my serve today.”