Serena Williams lost in the third round of the Australian Open on Friday in Melbourne for her earliest exit at the grand slam since 2006, but that wasn’t even the most surprising part about the defeat. What’s most surprising is the opponent to whom Serena lost.
Williams was defeated by Wang Qiang 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5. The shocking part of the defeat is that Williams defeated Qiang only four months earlier at the US Open in absolutely dominating fashion.
Williams steamrolled Qiang 6-1, 6-0 in 44 minutes at the US Open quarterfinals. Qiang only won 15 points in the entire match.
After the match, Qiang focused on how she was unable to match Serena’s power.
Wang Qiang at the US Open open after winning one game against Serena: pic.twitter.com/Tbh865B42r
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) January 24, 2020
To go from such an embarrassing loss to a win four months later shows great character and growth by Qiang.
Williams, 38, remains stuck on 23 grand slam singles titles. Her last grand slam win came at the Aussie Open in 2017 when she was pregnant. Serena has reached four finals since then but lost in all four.
