Dover native Madison Brengle is starting the new year with the biggest victory of her career.
The 26-year-old Brengle stunned Serena Williams - the number two player in the world - at the ASB Tennis Classic in New Zealand.
Brengle outlasted Williams in three sets - 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 - for a victory even she was hard pressed to explain.
“Honestly, I have no idea (how I won)," said Brengle in a post-match interview. "I just played one point at a time. I tried to run down every ball. I was difficult conditions with the wind. So, I just tried to fight for every point.”
Serena Williams, who was playing in her first tournament since last year’s U.S. Open helped Brengle out by committing 88 unforced errors on a windy day in Aukland.
Brengle says she was just trying to return as many shots as possible in the tough conditions.
“Yeah, I definitely tried to. And I tried to use the slice and get as many balls back as I could and it ended up working out,” said Brengle
Brengle is ranked 72nd in the world. She’d only faced Serena Williams once before, losing in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 in 2015.
Her best win previously was also in 2015 – a victory over Petra Kvitova, who was ranked 4th in the world at the time.
Brengle is now on to the quarterfinals of the ASB Tennis Classic where she’ll face Jelena Ostapenko.
