Serena Williams’ 1000th WTA tour match has ended in a 7-6(6) 7-5 defeat to Nadia Podoroska in Rome.
The American made her return to tour for the first time in 84 days as she looked to build momentum heading into Roland Garros.
If the first few games were to set the tempo of the match then it would prove to be a long contest with Serena struggling to get any free points on her serve.
It was the Argentinian who got the first break of the match in the third game as she tested Serena’s stamina early on in the contest.
In typical Serena fashion, the 23-time grand slam champion produced some stunning ground-strokes especially from central positions to break to love straight away.
On serve, Serena looked fairly comfortable as she ended the match with eight aces although she only made a first serve percentage of 48%.
That was her key downfall as it was Podoroska who looked the more comfortable on return as she used some devastating angles to force unforced errors from the Serena racket.
A break for a 5-4 lead ensured that the last year’s Roland Garros semi-finalist would serve for the opening set.
However Serena used her power and good point construction to once again break back which was met with a roar from the world number eight.
Eventually the first set would head towards a tiebreaker with Podoroska dominating the majority of it.
She had three set points which came and went as Serena used her fighting qualities to roar back into the match.
But once again some unforced errors would cost the four-time champion as Podoroska took the next two point to claim the opening set in 66 minutes.
In the second set, Serena was the early aggressor as she dictated points better setting the pace of the match.
Again though Podoroska extended the rallies and made the American move all round the court exposing as much space as possible.
The Argentinian was rewarded for her court coverage when she broke in the sixth game as Serena began to tire.
As in the first set, Podoroska couldn’t serve out the second set as her cautious play lead to Serena levelling it up at 5-5.
However Serena’s serve was just not working when she needed it too and Podoroska secured the final blow to seal a fantastic victory for her.
For Serena its onto Roland Garros as she will look to improve her fitness in the next couple of weeks.
As for Podoroska she will play Petra Martic after the Croatian beat Kristina Mladenovic today 7-5 6-3.
