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Serena Williams, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will not continue at Australian Open
Serena Williams. PHOTO/Andrew Brownbill/Associated Press
Serena Williams’ 17-match winning streak at the Australian Open ended Monday in a stunning 6-2, 6-3 loss to Ekaterina Makarova, the lowest-ranked woman in the fourth round.
The dominant force at Melbourne Park this century, Williams had lost only two matches at Melbourne Park since winning the first of her five Australian Open titles in 2003. After losing in the 2008 quarterfinals, she won titles in 2009 and 2010 before sitting out last year because of injury.
But she had seven double faults – four in the fifth game of the second set – and 37 unforced errors to give the 56th-ranked Makarova a spot in the quarterfinals at a major for the first time.
“Uhm, I think she played really well. She went for broke on a lot of her shots,” Williams said. “I made 37 errors. That kind of tells the story of the match.”
Makarova, who surprised Williams with the power of her ground strokes, will play either 2008 champion Maria Sharapova or Sabine Lisicki.
“I don’t know what to say. Amazing feeling and first time in quarterfinals,” the 23-year-old Russian left-hander said. “(Williams is) an unbelievable player. It’s really tough to play against her so I’m really happy I finished it in my way.”
Williams sprained her left ankle in a warmup tournament at Brisbane two weeks ago, but didn’t show signs of being seriously restricted Monday.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. PHOTO/Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
On the men’s side, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered a five-set defeat at the hands of the scampering Japanese, Kei Nishikori.