adminMELBOURNE. — An injury-hit Serena Williams crashed out of the Australian Open against Ana Ivanovic yesterday, missing the chance for an 18th major tennis title and a rare calendar-year Grand Slam. As men’s champion Novak Djokovic reached the quarter-finals with his 28th straight win since September, another Serb rubbed out the hot women’s favourite and ended one of the longest streaks of her career.
In a result which throws the women’s draw wide open, Ivanovic capitalised on Williams’ poor movement to take her first ever sets against the world number one, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Afterwards, Williams said she was on strong medication for a back injury which she suffered in recent days and almost prompted her to pull out before her third-round win over Daniela Hantuchova.
“I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots I missed I normally don’t miss, I haven’t missed since the ‘80s. I’m just not used to missing those shots,” she said. “I think Ana just played a really good match. She did what it takes to win.” — AFP.
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