Sergiy Stakhovsky loses to Jurgen Melzer at Wimbledon

The adage that you are only as good as your most recent performance rang true for Sergiy Stakhovsky as he followed up the match of his life with defeat by Jurgen Melzer.

Two days after beating seven-times champion Roger Federer with a dashing display of real old-school serve-and-volley, Ukraine's world number 116 fizzled out in a third-round loss.

"In general, if I would say anything about my match, I think I just played stupid," Stakhovsky, who lost 6-2, 2-6, 5-7, 3-6 on a dank and drizzly Court Three said.

"It would be, I think, the exact word because I played exactly how I should not play Jurgen and I should have realised that somewhere near the end of the second set."

Unseeded Stakhovsky, desperate to avoid the one-hit wonder tag, showed none of the sharpness and zip that sent Federer spinning to his worst Wimbledon showing since 2002.

It was a workmanlike performance from the dogged Melzer and Stakhovsky, clearly drained by the greatest victory of his career, could never land enough blows on the left-hander.