(CNN) — Roger Federer, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, suffered one of the most staggering defeats in the history of the tournament after being beaten by Ukraine’s 116th ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky.
The 27-year-old fought back from losing the opening set 7-6 before winning 7-6 7-5 7-5 to mark the greatest triumph of his career and end Federer’s record of making 36 consecutive grand slam quarterfinals.
Stakhovsky, who reached a career high of 31 back in 2010, held his nerve in the fourth set tiebreak to see off the defending champion.
Federer’s defeat leaves Novak Djokovic as the only man in the draw to have won the tournament.
“I’m still in disbelief that that happened,” Stakhovsky told the BBC.
“I was playing the best tennis I have ever played, I am incredibly happy. When you play Roger Federer it’s like your playing two players. you play him the player and him the ego. I couldn’t play any better today. It was a fantastic day for me.”
Federer’s exit is his earliest at Wimbledon since losing in the opening round to Mario Ancic in 2002 and his earliest at a grand slam since being beaten by Luis Horna at the French Open in 2003.
