Serena suffers shock loss in 1,000th match

Serena Williams, playing the 1,000th Tour-level match of her glittering career, suffered a shock 7-6(6) 7-5 defeat by Argentina's Nadia Podoroska in the the Italian Open second round on Wednesday.

Playing her first competitive match in nearly three months, the 23-times Grand Slam champion twice came back from a break down but struggled on her first serve as Podoroska took the opening set in the tiebreak.

Podoroska, who reached the French Open semi-finals last year, produced a string of heavy topspin forehands to take control of the match with an early break in the second set.

Although Podoroska was broken to love on her first attempt to serve out the match, she maintained her composure to break again and secure a place in the round of 16.

Defeat for Williams, who received an opening round bye in Rome, was a major blow to her preparations for the French Open, starting on May 30.

It was the American's 149th defeat in her 1,000 career WTA matches.

World number two Naomi Osaka also crashed out of the tournament, losing 7-6(2) 6-2 to American Jessica Pegula.

Osaka, a four-times Grand Slam winner, has often struggled on clay and her defeat in Rome followed a second-round loss at the Madrid Open this month.

Former French Open champion Simona Halep retired from her second-round match against Angelique Kerber with a calf injury, raising doubts over her participation at Roland Garros.

Third seed Halep was leading 6-1 3-3 when she showed discomfort while trying to reach a first serve from her German opponent.

Halep massaged her left calf before hobbling to her bench, where she received treatment from a physio.

Unable to move, Halep decided to withdraw from the match and needed assistance to get off the court, causing doubt over whether she would be fit in time for the French Open, which begins on May 30.

Halep later wrote on Twitter that an ultrasound scan revealed a tear in her left calf.

"I will get an MRI tomorrow to understand the injury in more detail, but at the moment we are unsure of recovery time," she said.

"I'm so disappointed to end my tournament in Rome like this but I will do everything I can to take care of the injury and be back as soon as possible."

Kerber will next face another former French Open winner, Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, in the round of 16. (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru Editing by Toby Davis)