Australian Open - Serena Williams Loses in Fourth Round - NYTimes.com Mast Irham/European Pressphoto Agency Serena Williams after losing a point in her loss to Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets. MELBOURNE, Australia - Unbeaten at the Australian Open since 2008, Serena Williams could not make it past the fourth round this year, as she lost, 6-2, 6-3, to the unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova on Monday. Williams, who was the last American singles player left in Melbourne, is a five-time singles champion here, but she is no longer a dominant force. Since returning to the tour last June after a series of health problems, she has lost in the fourth round of Wimbledon, the final of the United States Open and now the fourth round of the Australian Open, the Grand Slam event that she has won more than any other. "She's unbelievable player, and it's really tough to play against her, so I'm really happy I finished it my way," said Makarova, a tall blonde left-hander from Moscow ranked 56th. The 30-year-old Williams, seeded 12th, went meekly by her ferocious standards. Even though she saved five set points before dropping the opening set and three match points on her serve in the final game, she failed to drive the ball with her customary power down the stretch: guiding the ball more than pounding it, particularly off her backhand wing. There were also some glaring breakdowns. At 2-2 in the second set with the match still very much in the balance, she made four double faults in the same service game, shrieking to the blue skies on this hot day after the third one. "I can't even describe how I served to be honest, it wasn't good though," Williams said. Maybe I should have started serving lefty. She also struggled to make any impact in the forecourt, losing four of the five points she played at net and also missing an easy overhead (hardly an anomaly in this tournament). "I've never seen her play so poorly," said Chris Evert, the former champion who is working for ESPN. That seems excessive. Williams has suffered error-strewn upsets in the past, and Makarova, despite being unseeded, is no unknown. She reached the fourth round last year at the Australian Open and the French Open, and at this Open has defeated the 25th seed and in-form Kaia Kanepi in the second round and then upset her Russian compatriot, the seventh seeded Vera Zvonareva, in the third round. Williams needed to play better, much better, and she finished with 37 unforced errors, compared with 24 winners. Was it the heat, the nerves or the sum of her physical problems? She seemed restricted in her movement to her left at some stages in the match but did not get treatment on court. She has had plenty off it, however. After taking the final months of last season off after her United States Open loss, she arrived in Australia for a warm-up tournament in Brisbane in fine shape after changing her diet and after a strong preparatory phase. But she sprained her left ankle during the Brisbane tournament and had to retire. She went through extensive therapy to make it to the starting line in Melbourne. She looked surprisingly strong and mobile in her early rounds, but Makarova, an all-court player, adeptly extended the rallies and held firm where other underdogs have often faltered over the years against Williams. Her last defeat in Melbourne came in the quarterfinals against Jelena Jankovic in 2008. She won the title in 2009 and 2010, then missed the Open last year because of complications from foot surgery. But this tournament will go on without her, and Makarova will now face No. 4 seed Maria Sharapova or No. 14 Sabine Lisicki in the quarterfinals. Asked if she would have played here if it had not been a Grand Slam tournament, Williams did not hesitate. "No, no way," she said. I probably shouldn't have played.