Melbourne, Australia, Jan 23: Five-time champion Serena Williams is out of the Australian Open in a shocking upset, beaten Monday by unseeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-2, 6-3.
Williams had seven double faults, several to set up break points, to allow No. 56-ranked Makarova to notch one of the biggest victories in her career and advance to the quarterfinals against either 2008 champion Maria Sharapova or Sabine Lisicki.
Williams came into the tournament with a badly-injured left ankle that forced her to pull out of a warmup tournament in Brisbane two weeks ago.
On Monday, she appeared to be moving well, but made 37 unforced errors and had her service broken while trying to stay in the match.
Makarova won on her fourth match point when a Williams backhand went wide.
