Serena Williams’ legendary tennis career likely over after third-round singles’ play loss at US Open
Serena Williams’ legendary tennis career is likely over after she lost to a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard in the third round at the U.S. Open.
Williams’ first-round opponent was American qualifier Coco Vandeweghe, who ended up winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
The loss to Vandeweghe, who won four of her five service games, was Williams’ second-straight defeat in an important moment in her quest to win the championship. Last year, she played in a loss and said she was “still struggling to put myself in the right frame of mind”.
Williams, who became the first women’s tennis player in history to win 20 Grand Slam singles titles before her 30th birthday, entered the third round trailing world No. 1 Novak Djokovic by three games.
The third-seeded Williams began her day with a 5-3, 6-3 win over American wild-card seed and second-round opponent Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round of qualifying.
Williams’ win came on the heels of her first-round win over Australian wild-card Anna Tatishvili in straight sets, and her win over German wild-card Kiki Bertens in three sets.
She became the first woman to win a Grand Slam in three successive years when she triumphed on the Australian Open final Saturday.
Williams, who has notched 36 Grand Slam singles titles in her career now stands at 17 in her career, has not won a singles title since losing the 2016 Australian Open in a walk-over.
Wozniacki is also from Australia and holds a 2-1 record against the United States, including 1-0 vs. Williams last year in the third round at the French Open.
Vandeweghe, who is in her first Grand Slam tournament, took a break from tennis late last year, but recently had an exhibition match that showed she was back.
She won the first-round match against Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-0, but dropped a 6-4, 6-3 second-round loss to Tatishvili.
When she returns, Vandeweghe will have a chance to match the achievements of her Australian Open win.