Back problem no excuse for beaten Williams

Just like Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams' back was killing her. Yet the world number one blamed only one and not the other for her demise in the upset of this year's Australian Open. Williams paid tribute to Ivanovic's quality in a 4-6 6-3 6-3 fourth round loss which has shaken the tree in the women's singles draw. The 14th seed - herself a former world number one - blitzed Williams, though the American had gone into the match amid rumours of a back problem. Williams admitted post-match to issues with her back, but was careful to make clear the Serbian's red-hot play was more the reason for her defeat than injury. "It was all Ana today. I thought she played really well," Williams said. "I made a tremendous amount of errors, shots I missed I haven't missed since the 1980s. "She made some good shots, and I just made way, way too many unforced errors." Williams admitted she had briefly considered pulling out of her third round clash with Daniela Hantuchova because of the back issue, and her camp admitted the injury was worse a few days ago than going into the Ivanovic match. The 17-time grand slam champion said it was unclear what was wrong with her back, but it wasn't 'life-threatening'. But injury or no injury, Williams simply had no answer to Ivanovic returning everything that was thrown at her with interest and metronome-like regularity. Momentum, and the moments of luck, were with Ivanovic. Ivanovic rated the win one of the best of a career which reached its zenith with her 2008 French Open win, but meandered since. "I actually believed. I had some confidence coming into today's match," the 26-year-old said. "I really did certain things extremely well, you know, and I kept her under pressure throughout the whole match. "I just stayed in the moment… I didn't think much about the occasion and who I was playing, because it can get overwhelming."