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Rodionova shuts down husband scandal, eyes top 100

London - Arina Rodionova shrugged off the controversy surrounding her husband Ty Vickery as the Australian vowed to use the frustration of her Wimbledon exit to fuel a charge into the top 100.

Rodionova was Australia's last hope of Wimbledon singles success this year after a series of dismal defeats for her compatriots.

But the world number 166 slumped to a tetchy 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) second round loss against Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas on Thursday.

"The result wasn't the one I wanted but I fought and gave my all. That's tennis. Sometimes it doesn't happen," Rodionova said.

"I did what I could. I probably wasn't physically 100 percent because I was really fatigued from my last two really long matches.

"It's a bit harder on grass but I was fighting for every point."

The defeat completed a depressing 24 hours for Russia-born Rodionova after Hawthorn AFL star Vickery and his former Richmond teammate Jake King were arrested by Australian police and questioned over allegations of threatening behaviour and extortion.

King was charged with one count of extortion, one of making threats to kill, two counts of threats to seriously injure and two counts of using a carriage service to harass.

King was released on bail and Vickery was released from custody without charge pending further investigation.

The 27-year-old reportedly enlisted King to help him recover $100,000 he believes has been stolen from his Hawthorn restaurant business.

Rodionova refused to take questions on Vickery when she faced the media after her loss.

But with the scandal casting a shadow over her preparations, Rodionova looked stressed out on court as she berated the umpire for debatable line calls and angrily whacked her racquet against the net and her legs.

Insisting it was just the emotion of the match boiling over, Rodionova said of the umpire: "Yeah, well, what can you do? It is what it is. Everyone makes mistakes.

"I don't think I was extremely frustrated. Maybe at some points my legs weren't working well.

"I think I have a couple of decent bruises from hitting my legs."

Afterwards, Rodionova, 27, focused on the positives of her time at Wimbledon, which included battling through three qualifying matches to make the main draw.

In what she hopes is a breakthrough moment, Rodionova won a Grand Slam match for the first time when she saved seven match points in her dramatic first round upset of Russian 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

"I think after this tournament I'm going to have my career best ranking," she said.

"I'm really happy with that. I'm excited to come back home, have a couple of days off and then get back to work.

"I'm really looking forward to the next tournaments because I know I can play at this level and compete with players from the top 100. I want to be there one day as well."

Wimbledon results on Thursday, the fourth day of the 2017 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeding):

Men

2nd rd

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x13) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1

Dudi Sela (ISR) bt John Isner (USA x23) 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3

Mischa Zverev (GER x27) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-1, 6-2, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4

Dominic Thiem (AUT x8) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

David Ferrer (ESP) bt Steve Darcis (BEL) 3-0 -- retired

Gael Monfils (FRA x15) bt Kyle Edmund (GBR) 7-6 (7/1), 6-4, 6-4

Adrian Mannarino (FRA) bt Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 6-1, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2

Ernests Gulbis (LAT) bt Juan Martn Del Potro (ARG x29) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3)

Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) bt Adam Pavlsek (CZE) 6-2, 6-2, 6-1

Women

2nd rd

Sorana Cirstea (ROM) bt Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) -- retired

Garbie Muguruza (ESP x14) bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-2, 6-4

Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x9) bt Christina McHale (USA) 5-7, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3

Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Varvara Lepchenko (USA) 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-2

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x7) bt Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 6-0, 7-5

Magdalna Rybrikov (SVK) bt Karolna Plskov (CZE x3) 3-6, 7-5, 6-2

Lesya Tsurenko (UKR) bt Viktorija Golubic (SUI) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3

Petra Martic (CRO) bt Denisa Allertov (CZE) 6-1, 6-4

Zarina Diyas (KAZ) bt Arina Rodionova (AUS) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)

Alison Riske (USA) bt Kristina Mladenovic (FRA x12) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

Coco Vandeweghe (USA x24) bt Tatjana Malek (GER) 6-4, 6-2

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