Match Report | WTA Auckland: Serena Williams Falls in Three Sets, Fails to Advance

On January 6th, 2026, the highlight match of the WTA Auckland tournament was between seven-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and the 5th seed Linette. After an intense battle lasting 2 hours and 12 minutes, Linette edged out a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory. At the end of December, Serena got married to her fiancé, and she displayed impressive competitive condition in her first match of the new season. Previously, the Australian Open officially announced that Serena received a wildcard entry into this year’s women’s singles main draw, and she will now head to Melbourne to prepare.

Photo of Serena Williams

In other first-round women’s singles matches, top seed Svitolina defeated Glatch 6-3, 6-1; 4th seed Errani came back from behind to beat Vekic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; wildcard entrant Bolt won against Starodubtseva 6-3, 6-3, all advancing smoothly. Meanwhile, 6th seed Zeng Limi lost narrowly to Qatar 1-6, 7-6(4), 3-6, and Parks was defeated by Kocharetto 2-6, 5-7, ending their runs prematurely.

In the doubles event, Guo Hanyu and Meladnovic won their first-round match 6-1, 7-5 over Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai. Wang Xinyu will compete in the singles second round tomorrow against Zarazua.

(Text and Editing: Dato; Photos: Visual China)