24 Jan 2012

Serena bows out in Melbourne

5:20 am on 24 January 2012

Serena Williams has been knocked out of the Australian Open in a shock straight sets defeat to an unseeded Russian.

Ekaterina Makarova inflicted the first defeat on the five-time champion in Melbourne since 2008, winning 6-2 6-3 in their fourth-round clash.

Williams acknowledged Makarova had played "really well, but was despondent about her own performance, saying she had made 37 errors and "that kind of tells the story of the match".

Makarova next plays the winner of Monday's opening match on centre court between another Russian, Maria Sharapova, and Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

In other results, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova outlasted Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in straight sets, the Czech booking a quarter-final clash with Sara Errani after the Italian beat Auckland champion Zheng Jie of China 6-2 6-1.

.