MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams’ long winning streak came to an end in a stunning fourth-round defeat to Ana Ivanovic at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Ivanovic hadn’t won a set in her four previous matches against Williams, who had been a hot favorite to win a sixth Australian Open crown for her 18th Grand Slam title. Williams later admitted she had been bothered by a back problem in practice in recent days and considered pulling out of the tournament.
The No. 14-seeded Ivanovic set up the 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win by attacking the best serve in women’s tennis. She frequently stood well inside the baseline to receive, she took big swipes on her forehand and generally put Williams off her rhythm.
“It’s not easy playing such a champion … but she is also just a human,” said Ivanovic, who beat Venus Williams in the final of the WTA event at Auckland, New Zealand earlier this month. “I just went out there swinging at the ball.”
Williams hadn’t lost a match since August, one of only four defeats in 2013, and came into the fourth round with 25 straight wins. It was her 70th match at Melbourne Park, a record in the Open era, and she’d already set the mark for most match wins ever at the Australian Open with her third-round victory.
“It wasn’t the best,” Williams said after being told her coach had released news of her back problem.
“Again, I don’t want to blame anything. I feel like Ana deserves all the credit,” Williams added. “I feel she played unbelievable today. I think she went for her shots. It’s not like I gave her the match.”
Williams hit 22 winners but made 31 unforced errors, with most coming uncharacteristically on her backhand side.
“I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots … I haven’t missed since the ‘80s,” Williams said.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic ensured there wouldn’t be consecutive upset losses when he beat Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-0, 6-2 in 1 hour, 33 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals of his 19th consecutive Grand Slam.
Third-seeded David Ferrer overcame a sluggish start to post a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 win over Germany’s Florian Mayer.