Twenty-three-time Grand Slam champion and former world number one Serena Williams, who is playing in her first match since the semi-finals of the Australian Open, has crashed out of her opening round in Rome against Nadia Podoroska 6-7(6),5-7. This contest also marked Serena Williams’ 1000th match on the WTA Tour.

The American was sloppy throughout the match as she failed to capitalize on the few opportunities presented to her by Podoroska. Even though her baseline strokes had the same impact, it was not enough to drive the Argentinian away from the match.

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Serena Williams lost a closely fought first set

It was a tightly contested first set as both players exchanged a few breakpoints and took the set to a tie-breaker. While Serena was dominant from the baseline, she failed to reciprocate the same at the net. A few volleys she tried didn’t go her way as Podoroska managed to take the first set by a narrow margin, 7-6(6).

Even in the second set, the American struggled to create any impact and allowed Podoroska to have a quick 5-2 in the set. However, the legendary player used all her experience when it mattered the most. Serving for the match at 5-3, Podoroska felt the nerves and Serena bombarded the Argentinian with massive returns on the second serve.

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The American broke Podoroska and won her service game with ease. The match was leveled at 5-5. Just when Serena was expected to clinch the second set, Podoroska held her head straight and won the next service game.

Williams’ sloppy serve and unforced errors cost her the match

The pressure was right back at the American. Serving to stay in the match, the American didn’t manage to get quick first serves in, and lost the match. Serena managed to make only 48% of her first-serves in. For a big-server like her, it’s a surprising stat, and it was one of the main reasons for her defeat today.

Also, the American made 33 unforced errors in the match compared to just 18 from Podoroska. While Serena managed to hit more winners than the Argentinian, it didn’t serve the cause as too many errors from the American’s racquet gave away the match.

Even though Serena wasn’t expected to win the Italian Open in her first match since February this year, she was expecting to have a deeper run at the tournament to improve her chances of winning the elusive 24th grand slam title at the French Open.

But credit to Podoroska for silencing the storm and not yielding to Serena when the latter won three service games in a row in the second set. Both Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka lost their opening round matches in Rome today. It will be a mammoth task for these two players to create an impact at Roland Garros this year.

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