Serena suffers shock loss in 1,000th match

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.