Defending champion and four-time winner Serena was the first to go, beaten 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) by Marion Bartoli of France, cutting short the American’s return to Grand Slam tennis after nearly a year out with serious health problems.
Older sister and five-time champion Venus was ousted 6-2, 6-3 by Tsvetana Pironkova — the exact same score of the Bulgarian’s win in last year’s quarter-finals.
Also knocked out was top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, who fell 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 to No 24 Dominika Cibulkova in the Dane’s latest failed attempt to win her first Grand Slam title.
Serena, a four-time winner at the All England Club, saved four match points before the ninth-seeded Frenchwoman closed out the contest by hitting a service winner into the corner.
Bartoli made the Wimbledon final in 2007, losing to Serena’s older sister Venus.
Serena missed nearly a year after foot surgery and subsequent blood clots in her lungs. She returned two weeks ago at Eastbourne for the first time since winning the Wimbledon title in 2010.
It was the first time Bartoli has beaten the American after straight-set defeats in their previous two matches.
“Beating Serena is almost like a dream come true,” Bartoli said. “Even though she didn’t play for almost one year, she’s probably one of the greatest champions in women’s tennis.”
Four-time champion Serena was left to reflect on her first failure to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since her third round exit in 2005.
“I never came here thinking I would lose. That’s my attitude. You know, you win some and you lose some. Today just happened to be the one that slipped under me,” Serena said.
In men’s play, fourth-seeded Andy Murray moved into the quarter-finals by beating Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2 — then took a deep bow to the Royal Box, where Prince Wiliam and his new bride Kate joined the rest of the crowd in giving the British winner a standing ovation.
Murray, who has made the semifinals the last two years, is trying to become the first British man to win the title at the All England Club since Fred Perry in 1936.
Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Michael Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. The two-time Australian Open champion, who can replace Rafael Nadal as the top-ranked man in the world by reaching the final, lost in the semifinals last year.
Djokovic will next face Australian teenager Bernard Tomic, a qualifier who defeated Xavier Malisse earlier in the day.
Tomic, 18, downed Malisse 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to become the youngest man to make the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Boris Becker in 1986.
Among the women’s winners was 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who made it to the quarters here for the first time in five years, beating Peng Shuai 6-4, 6-2 on a sweltering day.
Sharapova started slowly before winning seven straight games to take command against the 20th-seeded Chinese player in an early match on Court 2. The big-hitting Russian had 27 winners and 10 unforced errors.
The match was played with on-court temperatures measured at 93 degrees, and Sharapova covered her legs with ice wrapped in towels during changeovers
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