Serena Williams feels cursed after being forced to withdraw from the Brisbane International with an ankle injury, which has put her Australian Open title bid in jeopardy.
In a dramatic two hours on Pat Rafter Arena, Williams rolled her left ankle late in her 6-2, 6-4 win over Serbian Bojana Jovanoski just after top seed Samantha Stosur was bundled out in the second round.
While the 13-times major singles champion fought through the pain to close out her match, she pulled out of the tournament on Wednesday night following an MRI scan.
Williams now faces an uphill battle to be 100 per cent fit for the Australian Open, starting January 16, not to mention in top form.
Brisbane was the American's tournament return after being sidelined since her US Open loss to Stosur in September.
She has by-passed the Sydney International, meaning she will only have two matches under her belt in four months before the Open at Melbourne Park.
Williams had been due to face Daniela Hantuchova in a Thursday quarter-final but her withdrawal allows the Slovak world number 24 a free passage to the semi-finals.
Now the American is more likely to be nursing a hangover after revealing she would probably drown her sorrows if her scans brought bad news.
"If it's not all right I'm definitely talking to my friend Jack (Daniels) tonight," the 30-year-old told reporters before heading off for the MRI.
Williams, who ironically took off her regular ankle guard at the end of the first set against Jovanovski, says she feels cursed given her last 18 months of injury and illness.
She had a potentially-fatal haematoma and blood clot early last year and has also been plagued by a serious foot injury.
But Williams was upbeat about life and the injury that could prevent an attempt for a sixth Melbourne title.
"I'm fortunate - I could have died," she said. "I'm not bleeding so that's something.
"There's always something positive."
Williams' left ankle buckled while pivoting to turn and chase down a forehand return when leading 6-2, 5-3.
She yelped in pain and then lay motionless on Pat Rafter Arena for several minutes before being helped up to the side of the court for treatment.
Unseeded Czech Iveta Benesova caused the first news grab by cutting Stosur down to size with a 6-4, 6-2 win in just 70 minutes.
In all three appearances at the Brisbane International, the current US Open champion has never advanced past the second round.
The 27-year-old brushed-off the loss and she will head south on Thursday for the Sydney International.
"Hopefully, it was just a bad day and I will bounce back next week and the week after," Stosur said.
It was the first of two upsets for the day with seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova losing to Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-0, 6-3.
Sixth seed Serbian Jelena Jankovic moved through to the quarter-finals after defeating Russian Nina Bratchikova 6-3, 6-2.
AAP
Tags: sport, tennis, brisbane-4000 First posted January 04, 2012 21:26:43
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