Tennis: Serena Williams in Shock Defeat

Serena Williams, who has not won a clay-court title since being crowned French champion three years ago, lost her opening match in the Italian Open yesterday at the Foro Italico, beaten 7-6, 6-1 by Francesca Schiavone.

Williams held a service break in the opening set against the 24-year-old Italian, ranked No26 in the world and without a title to her name, but afterwards the American committed a stream of unforced errors.

"I suppose it was one of my worst defeats but it won't be happening again," said Williams, who since winning the Australian Open at the beginning of the year has struggled to find any form and suffered an ankle injury in her previous tournament in the United States in early April.

"I wasn't moving well and had a bad day. I've never felt like this before and was really flat but I'm not worried about the French Open," said Williams, watched by her mother and her sister, Venus, who is due to play in Istanbul next week as she prepares for Roland Garros.

Schiavone, with her home crowd cheering her on, needed to do little more than keep the ball in play after the opening few games as Williams, currently ranked No4, self- destructed. The sisters are taking part in a reality television programme, some of which will be filmed in Rome, although Serena was quick to deny it had anything to do with her defeat.

"I couldn't get my legs to move and I haven't had as much preparation for the clay as I would have liked. I didn't expect this to happen, so I may have to rethink my schedule before Paris," she said, having chastised an Italian journalist who suggested she might have been in Rome on holiday.

Williams's defeat further cleared the path for Russia's Maria Sharapova to become No 1 in the world this weekend if she wins the title.

Amelie Mauresmo began her title defence here with a 6-2, 6-0 second-round win over Australia's Samantha Stosur. There was disappointment, however, for the fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who lost 7-5, 6-4 to Gisela Dulko of Argentina. Dementieva withdrew from Berlin last week with a hip injury but was one of the favourites here after reaching the finals at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows in 2004.