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Serena loses to world No. 72 Brengle
Serena Williams pulled no punches in analyzing how poorly she played during a shock defeat to fellow American Madison Brengle at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
In her comeback tournament after a four-month struggle with shoulder and knee injuries, the 22-time grand slam winner was dumped out in the second round after hitting a staggering 88 unforced errors in a 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 loss.
The 35-year-old struggled to master the windy conditions, labeling her performance against world No. 72 Brengle as “unprofessional.”
“She obviously did a much better job than I did,” Williams told reporters. “I really abhorred the conditions. I don’t think I’ve ever hit 88 errors in my career; I could Google that and that’s probably accurate.
“So there’s no need to look back on such a crappy game!”
“I really think I played – I’m trying to think of a word that’s not obscene – but that’s how I played,” added Williams. “You really have to go back to the drawing board, because it’s quite frankly unprofessional.”
Engagement
Williams, who last week celebrated her engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is bidding to win a seventh Australian Open in Melbourne later this month and break the Open era record for grand slam titles in the process.
“I felt good [after the second set], but I never got into my rhythm; I never hit any returns in the vicinity in the court. I’ve never returned like that in my life,” she lamented.
“It’s a little frustrating, especially since I worked so hard in the off-season, but at least the conditions won’t be like this in Melbourne.”
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Making her debut appearance in Auckland, Williams became only the second top five scalp of Brengle’s career after the 26-year-old beat Petra Kvitova in Germany last year.
“88 unforced errors is too much, just way too many. It’s a lot. I can’t expect to win hitting that many errors,” Williams said.
“I couldn’t get used to the wind; my opponent was playing in the same conditions, and maybe the wind was more suited for her game, but it was really annoying me for whatever reason.”
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Williams last won the Australian Open in 2015 and will begin her quest to become the most decorated grand slam singles champion in the Open era later this month.
A bad day for the Williams family was compounded after Venus was forced to withdraw after her first round win over Jade Lewis.
