Today was a day of disaster which started off with a litany of injuries.  Steve Darcis, who beat Rafael Nadal, had a shoulder injury and could not play his second round.  Isner managed two games, but then retired in his match against Mannarino.  Cilic did not play his match against Kenny de Schepper.  Tsonga retired after two sets against Gulbis due to an injury sustained in the match.  Radek Stepanek retired in his match against Jerzy Janowicz allowing the Pole to reach another third round in a Slam.

Indeed, perhaps the one guy to escape unscathed that might have gone down was Andy Murray who had a comfortable straight set win over Yen-Hsun Lu who he lost to in the 2008 Olympics.

But the biggest upset?  Roger Federer had a 36 consecutive quarterfinals at a Slam, a record dating back 9 years.  Apparently, no one told Ukrainian player, Sergiy Stakhovsky, who came to net numerous times as Federer shanked.  Neither player had break points in the first two sets, a usually bad omen for Federer, who often loses when he’s barely breaking.

The first set went to Federer in a tiebreak, but the second one went to Stakhovsky.  A break came in the third set late as Stakhovsky claimed that 7-5.  The fourth set had a break by Stakhovsky, when Federer finally managed a break, but lost the tiebreak, and thus, that entire quarter, considered the toughest in the tournament with Federer-Nadal, is now wide open.  The immediate beneficiary should be (other than those in that section) Andy Murray who would have faced either Federer or Nadal now faces neither, nor will he face Tsonga.

That doesn’t mean his road is completely free.  Up next is resurgent veteran, Tommy Robredo.  Potentially after that is Mikhail Youzhny who reached the finals of Halle a few weeks ago.  But clearly, if there was ever a chance for Murray to reach the Wimbledon finals, this is it.

With this loss, Federer will lose a majority of the 2000 points he earned last year, and drop to number 5 in the world passed by both Ferrer and Nadal despite Nadal having lost a round earlier.  Ferrer will reach a career high of number 3 in the world even if he doesn’t win another round.

If fate is willing Murray to win Wimbledon, it’s doing so in the most surprising way possible.

Djokovic, for one, will hope for a serene Thursday where he might move on without the drama that shocked everyone on June 26, 2013.