Maria Sharapova Ousted by Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon 2012

Maria Sharapova's bid to win her first Wimbledon since 2004 fell short on Monday, when the top seed lost to 15th-seeded Sabine Lisicki in straight sets (6-4, 6-3). 

"

BREAKING: Number one seed Maria Sharapova knocked out in straight sets by 15th seed Sabine Lisicki bbc.in/LJCblK #bbctennis

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 2, 2012"

Sharapova cruised through Wimbledon before meeting Lisicki. She took down Anastasia Rodionova, Tsvetana Pironkova and Su-Wei Hsieh with relative ease in the first three rounds.

But against Lisicki, Sharapova had no answers, as her opponent kept the pace moving quickly, leaving the Russian star looking suddenly futile.

Though Lisicki is known for being prone to errors, she was nearly flawless versus Sharapova until late in the second set, when Sharapova finally showed some fight. But it wasn't enough, and Lisicki put the nail in Sharapova's coffin with her second serve on the third match point in the second set.

The Wimbledon crowd showed its vocal support for Sharapova, but it had no effect on the unshakable Lisicki, who made headlines last week when she complained about opponents who grunted too loudly upon hitting the ball. Apparently, nothing Sharapova could do—nor noise she could make—could get in Lisicki's way on Monday.

Monday's match also marked the third time Lisicki has beaten the French Open champion at Wimbledon. 

Lisicki made it all the way to the semifinals at Wimbledon in a fairytale run last year. This year, she took down Petra Martic, Bojana Jovanovski and Sloane Stephens in addition to Sharapova to advance to the third Wimbledon quarterfinal of her career.