Serena Williams Withdraws From Brisbane Serena Williams, a favorite to win the Australian Open, had a major setback in her second-round match at the Brisbane International on Wednesday, spraining her left ankle just points away from a straight sets victory over Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia. Leading, 6-2, 5-3, Williams bent her left foot under her leg while trying to change directions to track down a backhand that Jovanovski had hit behind her. Williams fell with a shriek, and stayed there for several minutes cringing as a WTA trainer tended to her. Williams had had the ankle preventatively taped before the match, but removed the strapping several games before her injury occured. After being helped to her chair for tratment, the current WTA No. 14 resumed play, and gutted out a 6-2, 6-4 victory a game later, hobbling and often hopping on one foot after shots. Shortly after leaving the tournament site, Williams released a statement onto the WTA's Facebook page announcing her withdrawal from the tournament. "I have been to the hospital and it has been confirmed that I have a left ankle sprain that I probably shouldn't play on," the statement read. I'm going to take a couple of days off - not too many - and see how I feel. Main draw play at the 2012 Australian Open will begin Jan. 16 at Melbourne Park. The sudden setback ended a week in Brisbane that had been going exceptionally well for Williams, including jovial discussions of Ivan Lendl costumes at "80s-themed parties and her disappointment at herself for failing to train her aging dogs. Though it was the last Grand Slam tournament at which Williams won a Grand Slam title, it has since become her most successful. She has five titles in Melbourne (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010) among her 13 Grand Slam titles. Serena's older sister Venus Williams pulled out of Auckland because of continuing problems managing the Sjogren's syndrome with which she was diagnosed during the 2011 United States Open. Venus, the elder of the two tennis-playing Williams sisters, has never won a singles title at the Australian Open, with her best showing coming as runner-up to Serena in 2003.