Wimbledon 2012: Day 4 Scores, Results and Recap

Day 4 of Wimbledon 2012 was not only the most shocking day of the tournament, it may have been the most inexplicable performance of Rafael Nadal's career in majors.

Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, who was ranked 100th on the ATP Tour headed into the second-round matchup, actually appeared to have more energy than Nadal down the stretch in the 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory. Astonishing, given he didn't have a win against Tour-level competition on grass courts coming into the tournament.

While Nadal fell, other top-ranked players on the men's side triumphed. Andy Murray defeated Ivo Karlovic in four sets, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in four sets, David Ferrer blew past Kenny De Schepper in straight sets and Juan Martin del Potro knocked Go Soeda out of the tournament in four sets.

On the women's side, world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, a true comeback story, beat Tsvetana Pironkova in three sets, 7-6, 6-7, 6-0. Last year's Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, beat Elena Baltacha in straight sets. Victoria Azarenka exploded past Romina Oprandi, 6-2, 6-0. And four-time Wimbledon champ Serena Williams defeated Melinda Czink in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

Here's a look at the top matches of the day.

Lukas Rosol def. Rafael Nadal 

Despite committing 29 unforced errors to Nadal's 16, Lukas Rosol was able to jump ahead in part due to hitting 65 winners to Nadal's 41. Rosol's serve was also tremendous throughout the match. His first-serve winning percentage was 83, and he recorded 22 aces.

Rosol also showed amazing resolve against the world No. 2. He lost the first set, 6-7, only to win the next two sets, 6-4, 6-4. After Nadal stormed back and captured the fourth set, 6-2, Rosol won the final set, 6-4, despite pressure from Nadal at the end. He capped off the victory with three aces in the final game.

If you want to know how Nadal was feeling after the match, leave it up to this screen capture from Wimbledon.

"

What just happened? Rafael Nadal is OUT of Wimbledon 2012 in R2 after a 5 set #epic with Lukas Rosol on Centre twitter.com/Wimbledon/stat…

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2012"

Maria Sharapova def. Tsvetana Pironkova

Maria Sharapova battled through the first and second sets against Tsvetana Pironkova on Thursday, then exacted her dominance in the third set. Her service game was big for her—she won 75 percent of her first serves. She also won five of eight break points and hit 37 winners in the match.

Of course, Sharapova wasn't perfect against Pironkova. She had a whopping 10 double faults in the match and committed 30 unforced errors to Pironkova's 11. In many ways, she kept Pironkova in the match before the third set. Nonetheless, she showed fire in the final set, as noted by tennis writer Matt Cronin.

"

Sharapova terrific in 3rd & d Pironkova 76, 67 60. Shades of her64 67 62 win over Zakapolova at RG. May have been Maria's hump match

— Matt Cronin (@TennisReporters) June 28, 2012"

Click here for the complete Day 4 results at Wimbledon 2012.

Follow me on Twitter. We can talk about tennis together.