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Sloane Stephens advanced to her first semifinal in a Grand Slam.
MELBOURNE, Australia — What was supposed to be a learning experience against one of the greatest tennis players in history turned into one of the biggest surprises in tennis history on Wednesday, when the 19-year-old Sloane Stephens introduced herself to a global audience by rallying to defeat her 31-year-old American elder Serena Williams, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Williams is a 15-time Grand Slam singles champion, and was the No. 3 seed and heavy favorite here, but what made the result all the more unexpected was that she has been as dominant of late as she has been in the past: sweeping to the Wimbledon, Olympic and United States Open titles last year and winning 20 straight matches coming into this quarterfinal.
But the streak and Williams's newfound tranquility on court came crashing to a halt on this cool, sunlit afternoon in Rod Laver Arena as Williams, limited and frustrated by a back problem and Stephens's precocious blend of offense and defense, smashed her racket to smithereens early in the third set.
As a result, there will be no rematch between Williams, seeded third, and world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals on Thursday. Instead it will be Azarenka versus Stephens, seeded 29th, who had never been past the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament until this trip to Australia.
Though she has had other tennis role models besides Williams, including Kim Clijsters, Stephens once had a poster of Williams on her wall.
"This is so crazy, but oh my goodness," Stephens said, wiping away tears in her post-match interview. "I think I'll put a poster of myself now."
It was the second huge grand slam shock in the last year for Williams, who was beaten in the first round of the French Open last year by the unseeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano. But this was the first time that Williams, the best player of her generation, had been beaten by a younger American in tournament play.
Stephens said she felt good about her chances before the match began.
"Last night I was thinking about it," she said. "And someone asked me, 'Do you think you can win?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I think so.' But I wasn't too clear about it, and this morning when I got up I was like, 'Dude, you can do this. Go out and play and do your best.' "
Williams and Stephens only met recently but they have had considerable contact in the last year. They were Fed Cup teammates last year and have spent time together in Los Angeles, where Stephens lives with her mother and younger brother and where Williams has a residence.
But they will now be rivals as well as teammates, and this defeat came less than a month after they played for the first time. Williams won that match in the quarterfinals in Brisbane in straight sets, but Stephens was surprisingly comfortable playing at Williams's torrid baseline pace, drawing big praise from Williams afterward.
Despite the much bigger occasion, Stephens looked comfortable again on Wednesday, handling Williams's power and holding her opening service games before Williams broke her in the eighth game and then, as expected, closed out the opening set.
Williams then led 2-0 in the second set but Stephens began to lift again. The daughter of former N.F.L. running back John Stephens, who is now deceased, she is one of the fastest players in women's tennis. And she tracked down ground strokes on the run that would have been winners against most, and managed to break Williams's serve for the first time to get back to 2-all.
The match took another turn in the eighth game when Williams shouted in pain as she ran forward to get to a short ball and smacked a lunging backhand near the net. Grimacing, she was quickly broken again as Stephens took a 5-3 lead. Williams, limited in her movement, broke back in the next game and then called for a trainer on the changeover, eventually leaving the court for further treatment on her lower back.
"Well, a few days ago, it just got really tight, and I had no rotation on it," she said. "I just went for this drop shot in the second set, and it just locked up on me. I think I couldn't really rotate after that."
Williams's huge serve was considerably slower after she returned to the court but she still managed to hold at love to 5-all while serving changeups with Stephens visibly rattled. But the teenager fought off a break point in the next game with a forehand winner and then broke Williams for the third time in the set to even the match at one set apiece.
With Stephens up 2-1 in the third set, Williams reared back and smashed her racket twice on the blue hard court with two massive swings, destroying it, and then flinging it at her bench, earning a code violation for equipment abuse.
"It made me happy, unfortunately," Williams said later of her racket smashing.
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