Williams suffers worst defeat of career

Johanna Konta beat Serena Williams 6-1, 6-0 in the opening match of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose for the most-lopsided defeat in the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s career.

The match ended after 52 minutes. Williams had never won only one game — she won her serve for the initial game then not another.

“I know I can play a zillion times better so that kind of helps out, too. I have so many things on my mind I don’t have time to be shocked about a loss that clearly wasn’t at my best right now,” Williams said.

“When I was out there, was fighting. That’s the only thing I can say, I wasn’t just like giving it away and I was moving a lot better. So I’m just trying to take the positives out of it.”

Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki pulled out of the Citi Open because of an injured right leg. The hard-court tournament also lost its defending champion, Ekaterina Makarova, who lost her first-round match at the U.S. Open tuneup in Washington to Ana Bogdan 7-6 (2), 6-3. No. 2 seed Sloane Stephens, the reigning U.S. Open champion, moved into the second round with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

Tom Higgins, who covered NASCAR for 33 years at the Charlotte Observer and was inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame, has died at 80.

James Frascatore, the New York City police officer who tackled retired tennis player James Blake in a mistaken arrest outside a Manhattan hotel in 2015, says he and his family have been getting death threats.