Venus Williams suffered her earliest Wimbledon exit in seven years today, falling in the second round 7-6 7-6 to Croatia's Karolina Sprem.
Champion in 2000 and 2001 and runner-up to younger sister the last two years, Williams was outplayed from start to finish.
Shanking groundstrokes both long and wide, the third seed was never able to get a foothold in the match as it ran away from her in 102 agonising minutes.
Sprem, ranked 30th in the world, could hardly miss as the increasingly-frustrated American lurched from one crisis to another.
Sprem, who had won only one match at Wimbledon before this tournament, will next meet Meghann Shaughnessy or Spain's Nuria Llagosterra Vives.
Argentine Gisela Dulko cut short 47-year-old Martina Navratilova's remarkable renaissance with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 second-round victory over the nine-times former champion.
