Serena Williams has been ousted from the Top Seed Open quarter-finals, losing to an opponent ranked outside the top 100 for the first time in eight years on Friday.

Williams was beaten by Shelby Rogers 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5), as the world No.116 picked up only her third career victory over a top-10 opponent.

Rogers, who took six of the last eight points after trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker, also reached her first WTA semi-final since 2016.

Former world No. 1 Williams, the owner of 23 grand slam singles titles, hadn’t bowed out against someone so low in the rankings since No. 111 Virginie Razzano stunned her at the 2012 French Open.

Shortly after that, Williams teamed up with coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who still works with her and was among the few people in the stands on Friday – fans are not allowed at the first tennis tournament in the US since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

This was the third consecutive three-setter for Williams at the hard-court Top Seed Open.

She dropped the opening set of each of the others before coming back to beat Bernarda Pera in the first round, then older sister Venus in the second.

With social-distancing rules in place, the players didn’t meet at the net for the customary post-match handshake. As they headed to their sideline seats, Williams smiled. Rogers simply sat down and quickly shook a fist.

Rogers will now face Jil Teichmann in the semi-finals on Saturday. Teichmann needed seven match points to reach the first hard-court semi-final of her career with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Cici Bellis.

The semi-final on the other side of the draw will be Jennifer Brady against 16-year-old Coco Gauff or No. 8 seed Ons Jabeur.

Brady advanced by beating Marie Bouzkova 6-1 6-2.