The New Zealand tennis number one Marina Erakovic has been beaten in straight sets by Serena Williams at the latest WTA tournament in South Carolina.
The American great won their third round clash 6-2 6-2 in just under an hour and a half at Charleston's Family Circle Cup.
Erakovic was 2-all after four games but didn't win another game in the first set as Williams won the next four with two breaks of serve.
Williams broke again in the fourth game of the second set and then for the final time at match point, though Erakovic saved three match points before succumbing.
The Aucklander will reach her highest-ever WTA ranking on Monday, climbing further up from her current career high of 45 after back-to-back wins at the Family Circle Cup.
Erakovic, the 17th seed, had two straight sets wins over unseeded players, while she went out in the first round of the doubles, losing with her Russian partner Vera Dushevina in a super tiebreak to the Russian-Czech wildcard combination of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova.
Erakovic is now heading home to prepare for the clay court season.
