By Chris Oddo | Tuesday July 31, 2018
Serena Williams suffered the most lopsided defeat of her illustrious career on Monday night in San Jose, falling to Johanna Konta 6-1, 6-0.
Photo Source: Ezra Shaw/Getty
It was the best of times for Johanna Konta. It was the worst of times for Serena Williams.
Konta handed Williams the most lopsided loss of her career as she reeled off the final 12 games to claim a 6-1, 6-0 victory in front of a shocked crowd at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Open in San Jose.
The 51-minute shellacking featured the clean, precise tennis that we have come to know from Konta as she has risen up the rankings in the last two seasons, and it was another reminder that Williams has a way to go to find her best tennis.
"When I was out there I was fighting and that's the only thing I can say, Williams would later reflect. “I wasn't just giving it away. I was moving a lot better, so I just need to take the positives from it.”
Hitting just nine winners against 25 unforced errors, Williams was broken six times on eight opportunities and she won just 16 of 43 service points while making just 40 percent of her first serves.
But the story of the match was as much about Konta’s firmness and her ability to run away with the match as it was Williams’ faltering. The British No.1 never game Williams a moment to breathe and kept her on her back foot or on the run throughout the course of the affair.
She didn’t face a break point and dropped only 11 points on serve.
After the match Konta showed class in praising Williams in front of the packed house.
"It's an absolute privilege to be on the same court as Serena," she told Rennae Stubbs during their on-court interview. "After all she's achieved, it's so humbling just to come up against her. She obviously wasn't playing her best level - nowhere near - so I tried to play the match on my terms and just do what I can out here, put aside what an incredible champion she is, and just play the player on the day.”
"I might have been better on the day, but it's still a humbling experience to be out there with her."
Williams has only lost a set without winning a game nine times in her career, and she had never lost less than two games in a completed match until tonight. The last time the 23-time major champion won two games or less in a match was in 2014 when she fell to Simona Halep in round robin play at the WTA Finals in Singapore. Williams would return to defeat Halep in that same event, 6-3, 6-0, to win the title.
Konta advances to face American Sofia Kenin in the second round. She has struggled in 2018, and is currently ranked 48 in the world after reaching as high as No.4 last July.