After a decade on the WTA tour, Madison Brengle pulled off her first Top 3 victory by winning a thrilling three-setter against top seed Serena Williams in the second round of the ASB Classic in Auckland.
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The world No.72 Brengle won five of the last six games in the first set, erasing her initial deficit. In the second set, the 22-time Grand Slam champion Williams needed as many as six set points and a tiebreak to force the decider. The third set went with serve until 5-4, when Brengle broke her fellow American to win the match 6-4 6-7(3) 6-4.
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Wind played a big role in this match and here’s how Serena expressed her frustration with it, not skipping to acknowledge that her opponent played under the same circumstances:
She obviously did a much better job than I did. I really abhorred the conditions. I don’t think I’ve ever hit 88 errors in my career; I could google that and that’s probably accurate. So there’s no need to look back on such a crappy game!
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Just like at the 2016 US Open, Serena sported arm sleeves and the Nike Fall Serena Premier Dress, which I call the Circus Dress, because the skirt reminds me of a circus tent. The legend’s footwear of choice were these Nike Flare shoes in purple/silver/rose gold.
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Samantha Crawford congratulated her friend Madison on Twitter:
My bestie is adorbs ? https://t.co/Tp07H4n4Pr
— Samantha 黛莲 Crawford (@samcrawford18) January 4, 2017
Serena’s sister also had an unfortunate ending to her Auckland campaign. The second-seeded Venus Williams won her first-round match against Jade Lewis 7-6(2) 6-2 and was supposed to play her second match of the day against Naomi Osaka, but pulled out of the tournament citing a right arm injury.
Jimmie48’s Wednesday’s photos are coming up, but will be a bit late this time, since he’s now flying to Australia, where he will hopefully shoot the Apia International Sydney (we’re still waiting for the credentials).
I think Serena did not play her best today. She’s a bit sluggish and Madison took advantage of that chance.
The usual. Petulant brat Serena graceless in defeat
The usual. Petty, hypocritical Serena hater.