Serena follows sister Venus to Auckland exit

SERENA Williams ms suffered a shock second-round ond-round defeat at the Auckland Classic yesterday, day, following her sister Venus’s earlier withdrawal al with an arm injury.

Top-seeded Serena blamed the wind nd for a s t r i ng of unforced forced errors in her firstst event after a four-month onth layoff as she was sent ent packing 6-4, 6-7 (7/3), 3), 6-4 in a two-hour, 14-minute 4-minute arm wrestle with world No72 Madison Brengle.

“I’m trying to think of a word that’s not obscene but that’s pretty y much how I played,” Serena told reporters.

“I just couldn’t n’t get used to the wi wind. My opponent played in thet he exact same conditions so o obviously she was used to it a nd her ga me was m more su ited to it but it was just rea l ly annoyingannoy me for whatever reason.”r Seco Second-seed Venus decideddecide to quit after suffering a sore right arm during her struggle to a 7-6 (7/2),(7/ 6-2 first-round victory over 18-year-old New ZealanderZea Jade Lewis playing i in her first WTA tournament.tournament Serena, playingpl in her first tournamenttournamen since losing in the semifinalssemif of the US Open in September, was looking for a bold showing in Auckland,Auck both to pre- pare for the Australian Open and to celebrate her New Year engagement to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

After blaming rust for her sluggish first-round win over Pauline Parmentier on Tuesday, she succumbed in abject fashion a day later with a double fault on match point at 4-5 in the third set in the blustery conditions.

“I didn’t hit any returns in the vicinity of the court,” lamented Serena (pictured, AFP). “I’ve never returned like that in my life – a little frustrating especially since I worked so hard in the offseason.

“I can take solace from the fact conditions won’t be like this in Melbourne.”

Brengle dropped her second service game but at 4-1 down reeled off five consecutive games to take the first set.

In the second set she saved five set points before losing the tie break to Williams, and in the final set she held her nerve as games went with serve until Williams double faulted on match point.

Brengle goes through to meet seventh seed Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals, while Venus’s withdrawal gifted Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka a berth in the final eight where she will play eighth-seed Croatian Ana Konjuh.

In the other two quarterfinals, thirdseed Caroline Wozniacki, now the topranked player remaining, will meet Germany’s Julia Goerges, and Barbora Strycova of Croatia, the fourth seed, plays American Lauren Davis.

Venus, 36, had complained of “feeling old” after dropping her serve four times and serving eight double faults against Lewis who was half her age.

“The first match of the year is never perfect,” she said after the match but before deciding to pull out. “I’m just feeling old.”