Serena Williams says she made “far too many errors to be a professional athlete” as she was knocked out in the Australian Open third round.

The 38-year-old American lost 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 to China’s 27th seed Wang Qiang.

The defeat means Williams’ quest for a 24th Grand Slam singles title goes on.

“I can’t play like that. I literally can’t do that again. That’s unprofessional. It’s not cool,” Williams said.

The seven-time champion in Melbourne beat 28-year-old Wang in just 44 minutes at the US Open in September when the Chinese player won only one game and 15 points.

That was not reflective of the ability of a player who has been a regular fixture in the world’s top 30 over the past 18 months and reached a career high of 12 after her run in New York.

This time, after initially flinching when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, she made amends in spectacular fashion.

Wang had the tools to hurt Williams and continued to execute them in a third set in which most observers would have backed her illustrious opponent to go on and win.

After briefly faltering again as Williams rallied, Wang sealed victory on her third match point.

“I honestly didn’t think I was going to lose that match,” said Williams when asked on her thoughts after levelling at one set all.

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‘I’m going to be training tomorrow’ – Williams back to work after shock loss

Williams, seeded eighth, came into the match on the back of winning the Auckland Classic and relatively straightforward wins over Russia’s Anastasia Potapova and Slovakia’s Tamara Zidansek.

Instead of those results laying the platform for another title challenge, they preceded her earliest exit at the Australian Open since 2006.

“I made a lot of errors. I didn’t hit any of those shots in New York or in general in a really long time,” Williams said.

“I just made far too many errors to be a professional athlete today.

“I’m definitely going to be training tomorrow. That’s first and foremost, to make sure I don’t do this again.”

Opportunities to equal Margaret Court’s record of Grand Slam singles titles are running out for Williams, who is in her 23rd year as a professional.

She has not won a Slam since the 2017 Australian Open, when she was eight weeks pregnant.

Williams says she still has the drive to win that elusive 24th title and believes she can still match Australian Court.

“I definitely do believe or I wouldn’t be on tour,” she said.

“I don’t play just to have fun. To lose is really not fun.”

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‘I trusted myself’ – Wang on digging deep to win

Wang grew in confidence after she saved three break points in the sixth game of the opening set. Her firm forehands began to trouble Williams, whose movement could not match her opponent’s.

Wang – who defeated current world number one Ashleigh Barty at the US Open before losing to Williams – broke for a 5-4 lead and then served out to seal the first set.

Williams was struggling to gain the upper hand as the unforced errors totted up – they would eventually reach 56 – and she was broken again when Wang converted the second of her three break points with a deep forehand winner.

The Chinese player’s form deserted her as she served for the match at 5-4, with Williams breaking back with a superb forehand winner at the end of a 24-shot rally. The American saved two more break points at 5-5 before eventually levelling the match in a one-sided tie-break.

The final set went with serve until the 12th and final game. Wang had wasted two chances to seal victory on Williams’ serve before she was presented with another, which was taken when the American netted a backhand.

“After the second set I was a little bit confused, but my mind always said I had to focus on the court, on every point and trust myself,” said Wang, who now faces Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the fourth round.

Wang dedicated the victory to her former coach, Peter McNamara, who died from cancer just weeks before last year’s US Open.

“I always dream about him,” she said. “I think he can see what I play today. He will proud of me. I miss him.”

World number one Ashleigh Barty overcame a jittery start to defeat in-form Elena Rybakina 6-3 6-2 and reach the Australian Open fourth round.

Home favourite Barty was broken in her first two service games, but broke back on both occasions before breaking again in the sixth game of the first set.

Kazakh Rybakina, the champion in Hobart last week, converted only two from 10 break points.

Barty will now face Alison Riske or her doubles partner Julia Gorges.

“It was a very tough one,” the 23-year-old said. “I felt like I had to be switched on. Some of the games were long. It’s probably the best I played this summer so far.

“It’s nice to have another chance to come out and enjoy it. I’m loving every minute.”

On potentially facing Gorges in the next round, Barty added: “Jules is great friend. She’s got extremely tough match.

“Hopefully we’ll play doubles tomorrow [Friday] and enjoy that.”

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Britain’s Jamie Murray is competing in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open, where he will again produce regular columns for BBC Sport. The Scot starts by talking about the freak red dust which hit Melbourne and led to the cancellation of his opening match, coping with Great Britain’s heartbreaking exit in the ATP Cup and dealing with social media ‘trolls’.

You may have seen Thursday’s play at the Australian Open was delayed by a strange red dust which came down in a rain storm, meaning I’ve made a later start to the tournament than I thought.

Neal Skupski and I were supposed to play our first match in the men’s doubles on Thursday, but it ended up being cancelled after delays because the courts needed cleaning.

I don’t think the tournament organisers could do anything to prevent it, I mean how unlucky is getting a dust storm!

I’m sure that never happens in Melbourne. It was just very unfortunate.

There are no hard court tournaments in the world that have court covers and there are never really any delays here because the warm weather usually dries out any rain.

I’ve been playing here a long time at this tournament and I’ve never really experienced anything major.

In the end we were glad not to play because there is a lot of hanging around in these situations.

We arrived at Melbourne Park early in the morning and got to the site just before 10am. Because of the delays and then more rain, it looked like we might not go on until 6pm. That is a lot of time to be waiting around with very little to do.

We managed to practise on the outside courts which were covered in that red dust, then I went back to my coach’s hotel to get away from the courts and have a change of scenery.

First the tournament organisers moved our match to fourth on the court and then they decided mid-afternoon to cancel it.

So we were quite happy because there will be better conditions and better weather to play on Friday.

Dust from a rain storm is among the strangest reasons I’ve had for a match to be delayed.

I remember one time I was playing a Challenger Tour match in the Netherlands and the guy was playing his serve and the net collapsed!

So we had to wait a while for them to find a new net so we could start again. That is probably the weirdest delay I’ve had in my career!

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‘I didn’t sleep well after ATP Cup miss’

The low point of the recent ATP Cup, obviously, was going out in a cruel manner to Australia in the quarter-finals.

For me it was especially hard because I missed a backhand on match point in the decisive doubles that I would put away 99 times out of 100.

It is just one of those things. Everyone playing on the tour would have stuffed up a match at some stage in the same way that I did.

But, I admit, it was difficult for me to sleep that night and the shot was replaying in my head.

It can be tough to pick yourself from moments like that, but they happen and the next day I was fine. The following week there is another event to get stuck into and focus on, so you have to get over it quickly.

At the end of the day it was one shot and one match. It will not make or break my career.

Everyone makes mistakes in their job, whatever it is, but ours differs in that there is a lot of attention from the public.

Generally I receive a lot of positive comments on social media from fans who are just as gutted as we are following moments like that.

But there is a small minority who like to send negative comments.

Some people will write message to you on Instagram or Twitter, usually people who have been betting on the match, and they will give you grief.

But that doesn’t bother me or affect me one bit. I won’t lose sleep over that or spend too much time thinking about that.

Trolling, as it is seems to be called now, is something I’m sure all players are affected by when they lose matches because people have that ability to contact you so they can send what they want to send.

Sometimes it is sent in English or a foreign language – which helps because I don’t understand it – but I just delete it and move on.

I’m not sure this sort of abuse can ever be regulated. Social media has its good points and that is one of the negatives.

It is great that people are able to contact their heroes but in the same way it doesn’t stop someone giving players a hard time.

I pay zero attention to it and I’ve never thought about it for more than a second.

It will never affect me when I get on court and start competing.

‘Working with Tim Henman was fun – but doubt we will see him coaching full-time’

Other than the way we went out, I really enjoyed the ATP Cup.

I think it was a great event and a huge success from a player’s point of view.

It was a big event with all the top players representing their countries, being part of a team and playing in front of a lot of people.

It was also cool having the team zones on the side of the court and great seeing the players interacting and supporting each other.

I thought it was a great way to start the season.

We had a lot of fun in the British team, as you could see from the cameras and microphones in the team zones.

Off the court we went to the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and we went out into the harbour on a boat so that was great angle to look back at those world-famous landmarks.

It was also cool to have Tim Henman on the side of the court helping us because, as a former world number four and Grand Slam semi-finalist, he has been there and experienced those big moments as a player.

He got right into the competitive nature as our team captain and was loving being back.

But I don’t think he wants to coach full-time anytime soon. To do it justice you have to put the time in and that’s a minimum 25-week commitment.

I don’t think that’s something he’s interesting in at this point of time. Maybe that will change – we will see!

‘The partnership with Neal is on the right track – as long as we don’t talk football’

Neal and I are continuing on the right track since getting together last year and we’re hoping to go even further at a Slam after reaching the US Open semi-finals in September.

We have been pretty consistent on the ATP Tour and have reached a lot of other semi-finals, including in Adelaide last week.

We haven’t reached a final yet, which has been bit disappointing, but we are looking to change that in Melbourne!

One area where we don’t get on – in a joking manner, of course – is football.

I’m a Manchester United fan and he’s a Liverpool fan, so he had a few words after Sunday’s result at Anfield!

I didn’t set my alarm for that match and I’m glad after United lost 2-0. But I expected it.

Neal and his brother Ken – who is also out here playing in the doubles – were loving it! They were so happy and made me know about it.

I was hoping United could get a result because if they go on to win all their games, except for the United ones, then that would have been some consolation.

I’m resigned to Liverpool winning the Premier League title but one title in 30 years is fine – because that’s a terrible record!

Jamie Murray was speaking to BBC Sport’s Jonathan Jurejko at Melbourne Park

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All of the top 10 women’s singles seeds have reached the Australian Open third round for the first time since 2007.

Fifth seed Elina Svitolina completed the set when she beat American Lauren Davis 6-2 7-6 (8-6) in a match that finished at 00:45 local time.

The Ukrainian, searching for her first Grand Slam title, will play Spanish two-time major champion Garbine Muguruza next.

Karolina Pliskova and Belinda Bencic were among the winners on day four.

Eighth seed Serena Williams won the title in 2007 when she was unseeded.

She will play Wang Qiang in the third round on Friday, while defending champion Naomi Osaka takes on Coco Gauff in a rematch of their emotional US Open meeting in September.

Play was delayed on the outside courts on Thursday because of the dust and mud that came down during a rainstorm in Melbourne on Wednesday night.

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On Margaret Court Arena, Swiss Belinda Bencic overcame Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in a fluctuating match to the reach the third round.

The sixth seed, 22, lost four games in a row in both sets but still managed to win 7-5 7-5 against the 2017 French Open champion.

Muguruza progressed with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic on Rod Laver Arena.

Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova had a straightforward 6-3 6-3 win over Germany’s Laura Siegemund and will play Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or American Taylor Townsend in the last 32.

American Catherine Bellis, ranked 600 in the world and playing at her first Grand Slam in two years after four surgeries, knocked out Czech 20th seed Karolina Muchova 6-4 6-4.

Bellis, who was was told she may have to quit tennis after struggling with wrist and elbow injuries, will next face Belgian 16th seed Elise Mertens who beat Britain’s Heather Watson 6-3 6-0.

Angelique Kerber, the 2016 champion in Melbourne, saw off Australian wildcard Priscilla Hon 6-3 6-2, while Carla Suarez Navarro, who will retire at the end of the season, lost 6-3 7-5 to Poland’s Iga Swiatek.

Dutch ninth seed Kiki Bertens overcame Australia’s Arina Rodionova 6-3 7-5 and 2019 semi-finalist Danielle Collins was beaten 6-4 2-6 7-5 by Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

Putintseva will face fourth seed Simona Halep after the Romanian two-time Grand Slam champion beat Britain’s Harriet Dart.

Analysis

Jonathan Jurejko, BBC Sport at Melbourne Park

Melbourne is the city which coined the phrase – and inspired the Crowded House song – Four Seasons in One Day. On Wednesday it appeared to be monsoon season.

But, unusually, the rain band threw down a slurry-looking orangey/brown dust.

This murky torrential rain started as fans left Melbourne Park after Roger Federer’s win at about 10:30pm and continued to hammer down overnight.

Apparently brought down from the dusty north, it was deposited over Melbourne and left clothes, cars and tennis courts covered in brown dirt.

Most strikingly it turned the city’s arterial Yarra river – called the ‘upside down’ river because of its high turbidity – looking even slurrier than usual.

For the Australian Open, it meant a clean-up operation powered by jet-streamed hoses and squeezy mops on the courts – although it begged the question why covers are not used in these situations.

As one tennis fan quipped on Twitter, the clay season came early.

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Nick Kyrgios reached the Australian Open third round by beating Gilles Simon, with both players mimicking Rafael Nadal’s service routine.

Both he and Frenchman Simon copied the Spaniard’s routine after they were given time violations, and Kyrgios has previously criticised Nadal for the time he takes between points

The two could meet in the fourth round.

“There weren’t any extracurricular activities I was doing before my serve to waste time,” Kyrgios said.

The Australian has previously described Nadal as “super salty”.

Asked whose impression was better, Kyrgios replied: “I don’t wear underwear, so probably Gilles’.”

When asked about the incident, Nadal said: “Honestly, I don’t care at all. If was funny, good. That’s it.”

Nadal was irritated when Kyrgios served underarm in their meeting in Acapulco last year and has previously said the 24-year-old “lacks respect”.

World number one Nadal, who beat Argentina’s Federico Delbonis in straight sets on Thursday, has a 4-3 head-to-head lead over Kyrgios, but the Australian leads 2-1 on hard courts.

Kyrgios, the 23rd seed, said he was not thinking about the rest of the tournament or who he could meet in future rounds.

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‘I could have gone to a very dark place’

The Australian appeared on course for a swift victory, breaking his 61st-ranked opponent at the start of each set and leading 4-2 in the third.

However, Simon hit back to win four games in a row before Kyrgios, lifted by the packed crowd, found the decisive break late in the fourth set.

“I could have gone to a very dark place in the fourth set but I put it away,” Kyrgios said.

“I definitely lost my way a little bit. It would have been very interesting if it went to a fifth set.”

Kyrgios also apologised to his player box, saying it was “not acceptable” for him to take out his third-set frustrations on them.

“I apologised as soon as I went back into the locker room. They don’t deserve that,” he said.

“They do a lot of things for me on and off the court.”

Kyrgios hit 28 aces against Simon and will donate A$200 for each one to the bushfire appeal.

Legendary former player John McEnroe has also said he will contribute A$1,000 to the appeal for each set Kyrgios wins in the tournament.

Kyrgios will face Russian 16th seed Karen Khachanov next.

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