Erratic Serena stunned by Brengle in Auckland
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[January 04, 2017]
(Reuters) - Serena Williams'
Australian Open preparation suffered a jolt with fellow American
Madison Brengle stunning the world number two 6-4 6-7(3) 6-4 in the
second round of the Auckland Classic on Wednesday.
Playing her first tournament since her semi-final loss at the U.S.
Open last September, Serena was left to rue the 88 unforced errors
she made in the contest against an opponent 70 rungs lower in the
WTA rankings.
"I really think I played - I'm trying to think of a word that's not
obscene - but that's how I played," she said after the loss less
than two weeks before the year's first grand slam at Melbourne Park.
"Eighty eight unforced errors is too much, just way too many. It's a
lot. I can't expect to win hitting that many errors," said the
35-year-old who had constant trouble with her ball toss in the
swirling wind.
Brengle was trailing 1-4 before she staged a brilliant comeback to
run away with the first set against the 22-times grand slam singles
champion who had triumphed 6-0 6-1 in their only previous meeting in
2015.
Serena was a set and 4-3 down when she made a comeback of her own to
clinch the tie-breaker and force the decider.
The third set went on serve until the 10th game when Brengle held
two match points, only for Serena to fight off both and slump in
relief when she hit a crosscourt forehand to get back to deuce.
Brengle strode confidently across court, secured her third match
point and stared in disbelief as Serena double-faulted to hand her
the biggest victory of her career.
"I've never returned like that in my life. 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," Serena
said.
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"She
obviously did a much better job than I did. 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."
Brengle meets seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals.
"Honestly I don't know (how I won)," the 26-year-old American said.
"It's so cool. It's what you dream about, playing the best in the
world."
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Earlier, Serena's sister Venus downed local favourite Jade Lewis
7-6(2) 6-2 before withdrawing with a right arm injury.
"I love this tournament and I'm really sad that I have to withdraw,
but I'm happy to have had the opportunity to be here again this
year," Venus said in a statement ahead of her match against Japanese
youngster Naomi Osaka.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi and Greg Stutchbury in
Wellington; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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