No.1 seed Serena Williams crashed out 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) by fellow American Shelby Rogers in Top Seed Open at Lexington on Friday. The former world number one and 23-time grand slam champion surprisingly gets defeated in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Top Seed Open was a warm-up tournament for Serena Williams ahead of this month's US Open in New York. Serena marched into the quarterfinal after beating her sister Venus in the Round of 16 ties on Thursday but she couldn’t cross the line beyond the final eight after losing against the fellow American.
Shelby Rogers was playing for the first time against Serena Williams and the 38-year-old star took the first set 6-1 in just 26 minutes. Rogers rallied from a set down and won the second set 6-4 to take the game into the final set.
World number 116 Rogers pushed Serena into the attacking game and the final set was intense. She pulled off a miracle to take the game 7-6 (7-5) to surprise former World Number one.
“It's every kid's dream when they are growing up watching her play and to be able to do something like that. It was important for me going onto the court thinking I could win that match, and knowing I could take care of my service games,” said Rogers after the win.
Rogers will now face Jil Teichmann in the semifinal, who accounted for Cici Bellis 6-2 6-4.
In other quarterfinals, Coco Gauff escaped the exit after going one set down, eighth seed Ons Jabeur 4-6 6-4 6-1. The 16-years old teenage sensation earned her second WTA semi-final. Gauff will take on fellow countrywoman Jennifer Brady defeated Marie Bouzkova 6-1 6-2.
