Just three days after claiming a record seventh Sony Open title, Serena Williams underwent a shock 6-4 6-4 defeat to the young Slovak Jana Cepelova.
As number one in the world, Williams received a bye to the second round however that was as far as the defending champion managed to progress, looking jaded in her second round defeat.
Whilst the big talking point will be the disappointing performance of Williams, plenty of credit must go to the plucky 20-year-old Cepelova, as she held her nerve to claim her first ever victory over a top-15 ranked player.
Williams will have found herself turning back to her first set against Li Na at the weekend as she quickly went 5-0 down to Cepelova within just 18 minutes, silencing the Charleston crowd.
It looked as though it would be a repeat of her escapades in the Sony Open final as she reeled off the next four games to get a foothold in the first set. However, despite the shift in momentum Cepelova was able to regroup, serving out the set to claim it 6-4.
The second set was a much tighter affair with the pair trading blows from the baseline and just the one break from Cepelova was needed to see out the match, the 78th ranked player hitting an audacious winner to claim victory.
Cepelova will move on to face the winner of Petra Cetkovska and Elena Vesnina in the third round whilst Williams claims she is looking for a break from tennis, telling USA Today, "I'm really just dead. I need some weeks off where I don't think about tennis and kind of regroup. I've had a long couple of years, and I'm really a little fatigued."
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