Safin beats 3rd-seed Djokovic at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England, June 25 (UPI) -- Unseeded Marat Safin knocked off world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets Wednesday in second-round play at The Championships in Wimbledon.

Djokovic had a string of five consecutive appearances in the Grand Slam semifinals snapped in the 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 loss to the No. 75-rated Safin. Safin broke Djokovic's serve five times, with Djokovic hurting his own chances with 10 double faults, including one on the last point of the match.

World No. 1 Roger Federer stretched his Wimbledon winning streak to 36 matches with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win over Robin Soderling. Federer lost his serve just once in the match.

No. 5 David Ferrer rebounded for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Igor Andreev late Wednesday.

No. 15-seeded Fernando Gonzalez was also upset Wednesday, losing three tiebreakers in a 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) decision to Simon Bolelli. Mischa Zverev was head 6-4, 6-4 2-1 when 21st-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero retired.

In other matches involving seeded players, No. 10 Marcos Baghdatis swept by Thomas Johansson 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; No. 11-seeded Tomas Berdych escaped Victor Hanescu 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 6-2; 13th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka stopped Juan Martin Del Potro 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-5; and 20th-seeded Lleyton Hewitt beat Albert Montanes 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, 6-2.

Also, 22nd-seeded Fernando Verdasco took out Oliver Rochus 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-1; 29th-seeded Andreas Seppi was pushed the full five sets by Florent Serra before winning 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4; and 31st-seeded Feliciano Lopez defeated Roko Karanusic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Victories by unseeded players were posted by Bobby Reynolds, Marc Gicquel, Mario Ancic and Simon Stadler.