Another early exit for Williams

Serena Williams lost her third consecutive clay court match on Tuesday, withdrawing from her opening match of the Madrid Masters due to a thigh injury.

Williams, who exited the Italian Open in her opening match last week, was down 4-6 to Francesca Schiavone of Itlay when she called off the contest. Williams was later criticised for playing the game just to avoid paying the $75,000 non-performance penalty.

"I don't know about you, but 75,000 is a lot of money to me," Williams responded. "I'm redecorating a house and 75,000 is my furniture budget, some stairs... I can't just go writing cheques for 75,000 in this economy.”

Williams is yet to win a match on clay this season, last having won a match in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami at the beginning of April. Nevertheless Williams is determined to play in both the singles and doubles draws at the forthcoming French Open.

While Williams will spend the build-up to the French Open on the sidelines, Amelie Mauresmo was in impressive form as she eliminated Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 6-4, while Daniela Hantuchova progressed to the second round of the Madrid Masters with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 victory over Gisela Dulko.