Serena Williams suffers heaviest loss of her career

Serena Williams suffered the most emphatic loss of her career as she lost 12 games in a row to be beaten 6-1, 6-0 by Johanna Konta at the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic on Tuesday.

The 23-time grand slam winner won her first service game but that was as good as it got as the British world No 48 took her game apart to win in just 53 minutes.

The result was especially surprising after she had reached the Wimbledon final in July, where she lost to Angelique Kerber.

Williams, who returned to tennis earlier this year after missing more than 15 months following the birth of her first child, struggled throughout in San Jose.

Williams, 36, tried to shrug off the worst loss of her hall of fame career.

"I don't know. I have so many things on my mind that I don't have time to be shocked about a loss where I clearly wasn't at my best," she said.

Williams double-faulted and landed drop shots in the net. She missed returns and sprayed her groundstrokes long and wide.

Konta, who captured her first WTA title two years ago at Stanford, got on a roll and didn't take a chance in letting Williams get back in it.

Williams' previous heaviest defeat had been when she had picked up only two games in losing to Simona Halep at the WTA Finals in Singapore in 2014.

Speaking on court after the win, Konta said: "It's an absolute privilege for me to be on the same court as her.

"She obviously wasn't playing anywhere near her best level but I was just trying to play the match on my terms and do what I can out here and put aside the incredible champion she is and play the player on the day.

"I felt that I did better than her on the day, but it's still a humbling experience for me to be out here with her.

"I had to stay very much on every single point because against her it can turn around at any point."

The National