She shanked overheads, hit wild volleys and squandered six break points Friday at the French Open. The result: a stunning third-round loss to Katarina Srebotnik, 6-4, 6-4.
This was Williams’ earliest exit in nine visits to Roland Garros and guarantees a first-time women’s champion. Williams, who won the French Open in 2002, was the lone former champion to enter the draw.
“I missed a lot of easy shots and a lot of key points that I felt like could have turned the match around,” a subdued Williams said. “I wasn’t able to capitalize.”
No. 1-seeded Maria Sharapova and No. 2 Ana Ivanovic advanced. In the completion of a second-round match halted in the second set Thursday because of darkness, Sharapova beat American Bethanie Mattek 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Ivanovic reached the fourth round by beating 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-1.
Williams, who played the day’s first match on Court Suzanne Lenglen, converted only one of seven break-point chances and was 0-for-5 in the second set. She repeatedly set up points but failed to finish them, losing 14 of 21 at the net.
“There are a lot of things I would try to do different, but you can’t rewind time,” said Williams, who also lost in the third round at Roland Garros in 1999.
Her mother and coach, Oracene Price, said Williams has “been in a funk. It’s not like her. She wasn’t herself.”
Srebotnik, seeded No. 27, earned the biggest victory of her career. She has only one win over a player ranked higher than the No. 5-ranked Williams, beating No. 4 Amelie Mauresmo at Zurich in 2005.
Williams didn’t play like a top player. In the final game of the first set, she dumped an easy overhead into the net. Four points later, she worked her way forward but blew a volley, then bent over in dismay and pressed her forehead against the tip of her racket handle.
Another botched overhead cost her in the sixth game of the second set, helping Srebotnik to reach 3-3.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Williams said. “She was getting a lot of balls back, and I might have let that get into my head. She was just making some shots I don’t think she’s ever made before, or she probably would be in the top two.”
When Williams fell behind she turned up the volume, grunting with almost every shot and screaming in celebration when she hit a winner. But she was unable to rally, and her 27-year-old opponent kept her cool down the stretch.
“Today I woke up and it was just another opportunity,” Srebotnik said. “This is what you work so hard for — to be in third round where you play Serena or someone like that and you have really nothing to lose.”
Srebotnik credited her tactics for the upset, mixing the pace of her ground strokes to keep Williams off balance.
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