Strawberries and cream? Try the bratwurst . . .

World No.1 Maria Sharapova, hotly tipped pre-tournament to reclaim the title she won as a 17-year-old back in 2004, went out in straight sets to Sabine Lisicki. The big-serving 22-year-old from Troisdorf's 6-4, 6-3 victory not only gave her revenge for last year's semi-final and a close encounter at the Australian Open earlier in the year, but meant she had beaten the French Open champion in three of the last four years. Fittingly, her third match point of the day was taken on a second serve ace.

"It feels amazing," said Lisicki, who sobbed quietly at her moment of celebration. "I mean, she won the French Open. Actually, that's a good omen for me. In '09 I beat Kuznetsova, last year Na Li, and this year Maria. I guess they shouldn't be in my part of the draw."

The match was held up for approximately 45 minutes due to a rain delay, but the Russian who completed the clean sweep of major prizes at Roland Garros last month afterwards admitted she didn't deserve anything else. "I certainly had chances; I didn't take them," Sharapova said. "But I think a lot of the credit goes to my opponent. Obviously what I achieved a few weeks ago doesn't just go away in a few minutes. I'll have that for the rest of my career. But the tennis world always keeps going."

The only obstacle left blocking Lisicki's path to another Wimbledon semi-final appearance is her compatriot, a 24-year-old from Kiel called Angelique Kerber. The pair will meet on Centre Court today after the World No.8 extended no sympathy in the direction of Kim Clijsters, who was making her final last outing at the competition, inflicting a 6-1, 6-1 defeat on the Belgian which means the title here will always be fated to elude her.

It is unlikely this match will be on Clijsters list of most pleasant Wimbledon memories when she brings her career to a close after this year's US Open, but she was in a valedictory mood afterwards, recalling the honour of playing Graf at SW19 and her late father Leo's determination to sit on the same lucky seat at courtside.

"I won't be sorry about anything," said Clijsters, who will at least be back at SW19 for the Olympics. "I know that every time that I've played here I've given my best, and that's the only thing that I can try. I'll never say that I didn't work hard enough or I didn't practice hard enough. You know, some days it's good, some days it's great, and some days it's not good enough."

Sharapova and Clijsters may have been the only fallers yesterday, but some notable others dodged a bullet. Petra Kvitova and Serena Williams, the only two women left in the field who have previously won at SW19, for instance.

The 2011 champion and four-times winner will meet on Centre Court today but both lived a charmed life yesterday.

Kvitova almost gave away her title in a controversial encounter with former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone out on Court No.3. The Czech squandered no fewer than 10 break points in the first set before the Italian won it, and eventually outlasted her opponent by a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 scoreline, leaving Schiavone in an extended dialogue with the umpire, bemoaning the fact that play was allowed to continue despite the light rain stopping play on Centre Court and Court No.1.

"Of course [it was dangerous]," Schiavone said. "When it is humid, the grass, you can't play. It doesn't matter if it is an important moment or not. But this is not an excuse."

Kvitova's argument, meanwhile was: "I was ready to play and to continue because I knew I had a chance. I think she didn't want to play really on the little bit wet grass. Maybe she lost a bit of concentration. But I'm not sure it was really the big key of the match."

Also having to put up with the lunchtime rain was Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. Shvedova had managed to get through an entire set against Sara Errani without conceding a point in the previous round, and she excelled herself again yesterday by extending Williams to the full before going down 6-1, 2-6, 7-5. "I didn't feel like it was that wet," Williams said. "I know I can play so much better. If I wasn't then I would be worried."

For all of the lunchtime precipitation, the All England Club committee will at least be delighted that they managed to complete the quarter-final line-up.

Agnieszka Radwanska, the World No.3, was quietly impressive in a 6-2, 6-3 win against Camila Giorgi of Italy, and will take on Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the quarter final. Also beating an impressive path to today's quarter final were Tamira Paszek, of Austria, and Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus, who struck a pigeon trapped under the Centre Court roof en route to her dismantling of another former world No.1 in the form of Ana Ivanovic. "I saw some feathers coming down," said Azarenka, who only allowed Ivanovic a single game. "I don't know how it got there."