ROME – Serena Williams, playing the 1,000th Tour-level match of her glittering career, suffered a shock 7-6(6) 7-5 defeat by Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska in the the Italian Open second round on Wednesday.
Playing her first competitive match in nearly three months, the 23-times Grand Slam champion twice came back from a break down but struggled on her first serve as Podoroska took the opening set in the tiebreak.
Podoroska, who reached the French Open semi-finals last year, produced a string of heavy topspin forehands to take control of the match with an early break in the second set.
Although Podoroska was broken to love on her first attempt to serve out t…
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