The much-anticipated stay of the Williams sisters in Auckland was cut short on Wednesday as both crowd favorites at the 2017 ASB Classic failed to make the quarter-finals of the event, for two very different reasons.
Venus Williams had to withdraw from her second-round match against Japanese rising star Naomi Osaka, after suffering a right arm injury in her match against local New Zealand wildcard Jade Lewis, who gave the tennis veteran plenty of trouble early into the first set.
Sister Serena had to fight a whole different issue, playing later during the day the world #2 was plagued by very strong winds, allowing fellow American Madison Brengle to clinch a shocking upset win over the tennis legend after three highly-emotional sets.