Serena Williams Upset In Rome Semifinals
By Thurston Soros, Lawn Tennis Analyst, Posted: Sunday, May 9, 2010 7:49pm PST USA
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MADRID--Friday in the semifinals at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, the world number one Serena Williams of the USA collapsed in a number of errors to end a decisive third set tiebreaker and lose to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-5).
And with her quarterfinal 6-0, 6-1 thrashing of Williams' older sister Venus Williams, Jankovic joins only a select number of WTA Tour players to defeat both Williams sisters in the same tournament.
Williams took a 6-4, 2-2 lead following a combination of aggressive baseline and net play. However the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion soon found herself loured into an increasing number of extended baseline rallies in which she would falter and commit costly unforced errors.
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Serena Wiliams of the USA | Image: The Canadian Press |
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Serena Williams is the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion.
Williams, playing in only her first WTA Tour tournament since a January a knee injury, dropped the second set in a struggle with her fitness and the remarkable consistency of the Serb from the baseline.
The American would race to third set leads of 2-0 and 5-4 before holding a final lead in the tiebreaker 5-2. But after seemingly approaching the finish line, several back to back errors from Williams would decide the claycourt contest.
The Rome event as well as this week's WTA Tour and ATP Tour events in Madrid, Spain serve as a major French Open warmup tournaments. The French Open begins May23rd in Paris. In 2002, Williams claimed her lone French Open title in a 7-5, 6-3 defeat of Venus Williams. Both Williams sisters are entered in this week's Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open at Madrid.
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