LONDON, June 26: Maria Sharapova was knocked out of Wimbledon by a 131st-ranked qualifier on a day when injuries forced the withdrawal or retirement of seven other players.

The famed grass courts were at the centre of a safety row on Wednesday after Victoria Azarenka, Steve Darcis, the conqueror of Rafael Nadal, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among those forced out of the tournament.

Third seed Sharapova was knocked out in the second round by Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito. The tall Russian was scheduled on Court Two and never looked happy against a tenacious opponent ranked 131 in the world, losing 6-3, 6-4 to leave the women’s draw in tatters after the earlier withdrawal of second seed Azarenka.

World No 2 and Australian Open champion Azarenka withdrew just minutes before she was due on Centre Court to face Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta for a place in the third round.

A right knee injury, suffered in a fall during her first round win over Maria Joao Koehler on Monday which left her in tears and requiring 10 minutes of treatment, put paid to her hopes after an MRI scan showed extensive bruising to the knee.

French sixth seed Tsonga quit his match with Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis with a knee injury at the end of the third set.

Also withdrawing were Darcis, who put out Nadal in the first round, Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.

John Isner and Radek Stepanek both quit during their second round matches.

The seven pullouts were the most on one day in Grand Slam history.

Azarenka’s fall happened on Court One, the same arena where Darcis knocked out Nadal on Monday.

Darcis, the world No 135, also took a painful tumble, causing the right shoulder injury which forced him to withdraw.

On Centre Court, Tsonga needed a medical time-out to have his left knee taped just after he had dropped the second set, 6-3, against world number 39 Gulbis.

Tsonga had won the first set, 6-3. But when he dropped the third set 6-3, he gave up.

Darcis had been due to face Poland’s Lukasz Kubot in the second round, but was unable to recover in time after sustaining the shoulder problem in his remarkable triumph against Nadal 48 hours earlier.

America’s John Isner, famous for winning the longest match in history at Wimbledon in 2010, pulled out after just two games of his second round tie against France’s Adrian Mannarino.

Croatian 10th seed Cilic joined the list of Wimbledon’s walking wounded when he withdrew with a left knee injury.

Cilic, the runner-up to Andy Murray at Queens last week, was due to face France’s Kenny de Schepper for a last-32 place.

Czech veteran Stepanek was also struck down by injury. At 6-2, 5-3 down to Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, the 24th seed, he quit with a left hamstring injury.

Shvedova had an arm injury and her withdrawal meant that 2011 champions Petra Kvitova received a free pass into the third round.

Meanwhile, three former world number ones were knocked out. Lleyton Hewitt was dumped out by German qualifier Dustin Brown, the dreadlocked former Jamaica player winning 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-2

Ana Ivanovic was knocked out by Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard, the reigning Wimbledon girls’ champion. The 12th seeded Serb was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by the 19-year-old.

Caroline Wozniacki, the ninth seed, also went out in straight sets to Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska after needing treatment for an ankle injury, also following a fall on Court Two.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding): Men’s singles: Second round: 20-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt Vasek Pospisil (Canada) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-4; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt 6-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 0-0 — Tsonga retired; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt 31-Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (8-4), 6-4; 15-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) bt Guillaume Rufin (France) 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-4; 25-Benoit Paire (France) bt Stephane Robert (France) 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Kenny De Schepper (France) bt 10-Marin Cilic (Croatia) — walkover; Dustin Brown (Germany) bt Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2; Viktor Troicki (Serbia) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia) 6-4, 6-3, 6-4; 24-Jerzy Janowicz (Poland) bt Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 6-2, 5-3 — Stepanek retired; Lukasz Kubot (Poland) bt Steve Darcis (Belgium) — walkover; Adrian Mannarino (France) bt 18-John Isner (US) 1-1 — Isner retired.

Women’s singles: Second round: Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) bt 3-Maria Sharapova (Russia) 6-3, 6-4; 25-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) bt Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4; 8-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) — walkover; Petra Cetkovska (Czech Republic) bt 9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-2, 6-2; Karin Knapp (Italy) bt 27-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Eva Birnerova (Czech Republic) bt Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-4; Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) bt 12-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-3; Monica Puig (Puerto Rico) bt Silvia Soler Espinosa (Spain) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; 19-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt 2-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) — walkover; 29-Alize Cornet (France) bt Hsieh Su-Wei (Taiwan) 6-3, 6-2.

Tuesday’s remaining results: Men’s singles: First round: Bobby Reynolds (US) bt Steve Johnson (US) 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) bt Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4; Daniel Brands (Germany) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4; Grega Zemlja (Slovenia) bt Michael Russell (US) 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-1; Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt 19-Gilles Simon (France) 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11); 4-David Ferrer (Spain) bt Martin Alund (Argentina) 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; 7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 9-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Marcel Granollers (Spain) 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) bt Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-3; Roberto Bautista (Spain) bt Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); 17-Milos Raonic (Canada) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 6-4, 6-3, 6-3; 29-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; Igor Sijsling (Netherlands) bt Alex Kuznetsov (US) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; 23-Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 3-6, 6-3; Jimmy Wang (Taiwan) bt Wayne Odesnik (US) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

Women’s singles: First round: 32-Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-4, 6-3; Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) bt Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 5-7, 6-0, 6-1; 23-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-1, 6-2; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) 6-2, 7-5; 4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) 6-1, 6-1; Mathilde Johansson (France) bt Timea Babos (Hungary) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Petra Martic (Croatia) bt Anna Tatishvili (Georgia) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3; Annika Beck (Germany) bt Nina Bratchikova (Russia) 6-3, 6-2; Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) bt Tara Moore (Britain) 7-5, 5-7, 7-5; Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) bt 13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) 6-3, 6-2; Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) bt 21-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 6-0, 6-1; Alison Riske (US) bt 31-Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 3-1 — Oprandi retired; 18-Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; 7-Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) 6-3, 6-4; Maria Teresa Torro (Spain) bt Irina Begu (Romania) 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies