Wimbledon: Defending champion Muguruza falls, Cilic out

Garbine Muguruza's Wimbledon title defence was hijacked by Alison van Uytvanck as the little-known Belgian produced a fearless brand of hard-hitting tennis to topple the champion with a 5-7 6-2 6-1 victory in the second round on Thursday.

Muguruza came from a break down to survive a nervy first set but there was no let off in the next two and the third seed was left shaking her head in disbelief as van Uytvanck bombarded her with serves that often clocked at over 110mph, with the fastest recorded at 115 mph.

But it was not just the serve that caused Muguruza mayhem. She slipped and fell over heavily on her shoulder while chasing down a van Uytvanck drop shot as the final set ran away from her.

The Spaniard suffered the earliest exit of a defending champion at the All England Club since Germany's Steffi Graf was beaten in the first round in 1994.

Britain's Johanna Konta, a semi finalist at Wimbledon last year, was another women's seed to bite the dust on Thursday, beaten 6-3 6-4 by Slovakia's Dominica Cibulkova.

Pella roars back to stun Cilic

Guido Pella came from two sets down to stun third seed Marin Cilic at Wimbledon on Thursday, beating last year's finalist 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5 in the second round.

Cilic appeared en route for an expected victory before the match was suspended by rain in the third set on Wednesday. The former US Open champion couldn't establish the same rhythm on Thursday and succumbed to a wonderful Pella comeback.

"Yesterday he was playing so, so good, and hitting the ball so hard that I couldn't do anything," the 82nd-ranked Pella said. "So the rain helped me a lot."

Cilic was runner-up to Roger Federer last year and showed great form by beating Novak Djokovic in the Queen's Club final last month.

His early exit opens up Federer's path to the final even more, with No. 8 Kevin Anderson the highest-seeded player left in the Swiss star's half of the draw after number six Grigor Dimitrov lost in the first round.

Wawrinka falls, Zverev trailing

Stan Wawrinka also exited, losing to Italian qualifier Thomas Fabbiano 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6). That match was also suspended on Wednesday with Wawrinka leading 6-5 in the third set, but Fabbiano wrapped up the victory to equal his best Grand Slam result by reaching the third round.

Former champions Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal remained on course for a semifinal meeting. Djokovic overcame a knee problem to beat Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, while top-ranked Nadal defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Juan Martin del Potro showed he is shaping up nicely for the tests ahead with a 6-4 6-1 6-2 romp past Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez.

Unseeded American Taylor Fritz, 20, has taken a two-sets-to-one lead over Germany's fourth seed Alexander Zverev in Wimbledon's second round, in a match suspended by darkness.

Fritz leads 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 and has never been to the third round at a Grand Slam tournament. They will resume with the start of the fourth set on Friday.

mds (Reuters, AP, AFP)