Serena Williams out at Wimbledon: ‘Everyone ... plays the match of their lives against me’

A frustrated Serena Williams was ousted by Alize Cornet on Saturday, saying she has to be 'a hundred times better' than opponents lately to advance in tournaments.

Serena Williams reacts during her third round loss to Alize Cornet on Saturday at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships. Carl Court / AFP / June 28, 2014

World No 1 and five-times champion Serena Williams crashed to her earliest defeat at Wimbledon for nine years on Saturday.
Williams, the top seed, lost her third round tie to French 25th seed Alize Cornet 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a Court One clash which had been held up for over four hours because of torrential rain which saw 45 matches wiped off the schedule.
Serena could have no complaints about an embarrassing defeat which continued a disappointing campaign for the 17-time Grand Slam champion, who has failed to get beyond the fourth round at any of the three majors so far this year.
It was her earliest exit from the All England Club since 2005 when she lost to fellow American Jill Craybas at the same stage.
"Well, I think everyone in general plays the match of their lives against me. So I'm pretty sure that the next match, it won't be the same," said Williams.
"So I just have to be a hundred times better. If I'm not, then I'm in trouble."
Cornet, 24, goes on to face Canadian 13th seed Eugenie Bouchard on Monday in what will be her first appearance in the second week of Wimbledon at the eighth attempt and only her second career fourth round appearance at a Grand Slam.
Cornet, who had defeated Williams in Dubai earlier this year, celebrated by kissing the turf in jubilation.
"A few years ago I couldn't even play on grass. I was so bad," said the slender Frenchwoman.
"To beat Serena at Wimbledon, wow, it is just a dream. It is the biggest upset in the tournament because she is the world No 1 and has won here so many times."
In stark contrast, Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, remained on course for a rare French Open and Wimbledon double after moving into the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over American Alison Riske.
The world No 5 next faces German ninth seed Angelique Kerber who beat Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
"I had a little bit of a slow start but otherwise I'm thankful to get through," Sharapova said.
Third seed Simona Halep of Romania reached the last-16 for the first time with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic.
Halep, the French Open runner-up, will face Kazakh world No 72 Zarina Diyas who beat Russian veteran Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7/1), 3-6, 6-3 to continue her dream Wimbledon debut.
In ther other matches of the day, Yaroslava Shvedova was locked in a tight battle with Madison Keys after winning the first set and going to 6-6 in the second before play was interrupted. No 19 seed Sabine Lisicki put Ana Ivanovic in grave danger, as well, winning the first set 6-4 before they got to 1-1 in the second set.
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