Serena Williams' quest for a 24th career Grand Slam singles title came crashing to an early end in Melbourne, as she fell in the third round to 27th seeded Qiang Wang 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 7-5. The 28-year-old Wang is now 2-1 in her career against Williams, who is out of the Australian Open -- a tournament she's won an Open era-record seven times -- before the fourth round for the first time since 2006.
Williams was plagued the entire match by unforced errors, committing 56 throughout the match, despite coming up with eight aces. She took just 44 minutes to beat Wang in the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open in 2019, but this back and forth battle took well over two hours with Wang getting the only break of the third set to close out the match, 7-5.
The result keeps Williams with 23 career singles titles at the Majors. It stands as the Open era record, but remains one shy of Margaret Court's all-time record. Court also owns the record for women's singles titles at the Australian Open with 11, but only four came with professionals in the tournament.
Williams will have her next shot at 24 at the French Open, where she's had early exits in her last two trips to Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019. She has fared better at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open since then, as she lost in the finals of both tournaments each of the last two seasons.
Wang, on the other hand, is off to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career, and will take on Ons Jabeur next.