RUSSIA’S Maria Sharapova falls while playing Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko during their women’s singles first round match on the second day of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London. AFP

LONDON, United Kingdom — Maria Sharapova suffered her first opening round Wimbledon defeat and earliest Grand Slam exit in eight years when she bowed to fellow Russian and world no. 132 Vitalia Diatchenko on Tuesday.

Sharapova, the 2004 champion, was joined at the exit by 2011 and 2014 winner Petra Kvitova, who was stunned by Belarusian world number 50 Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

However, two-time men’s champion Rafael Nadal and three-time winner Novak Djokovic eased into the second round.

Sharapova was cruising to victory in Court Two with a set and 5-2 lead before qualifier Diatchenko shrugged off a back injury to win 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 after more than three hours of action.

Sharapova, playing Wimbledon for the first time in three years after missing 2016 through a drugs ban and 2017 due to injury, gave up the match on her 11th double fault.

It was her earliest exit at a Slam since a first round defeat at the 2010 Australian Open.

“It’s always tough to assess your motivation levels after a first round loss but I won’t shy away from learning from my errors,” said 31-year-old Sharapova.

Eighth seed Kvitova was the bookmakers’ favourite for a third Wimbledon crown after winning five titles in 2018, including the grass-court tournament at Birmingham last weekend, while amassing an WTA Tour-leading 38 match victories.

But she slumped to a disappointing 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 loss to Sasnovich.

“When I was younger, I played better on the Grand Slams than the other tournaments. Now is the time when I’m playing better on the other tournaments than the Grand Slams,” said the 28-year-old Czech.

Kvitova is the fourth top 10 women’s seed to lose in the first round.

Number four Sloane Stephens and fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina were eliminated on Monday.

France’s Caroline Garcia, seeded six, was also beaten Tuesday, going down 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 to Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic.

World number one Nadal breezed into the second round with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over Israel’s Dudi Sela as the Spaniard returned to action for the first time since claiming his 11th French Open title.