Serena Williams, playing the 1000th WTA match of her career, lost on her return after nearly three months away to Nadia Podoroska in the second round of the WTA Italian Open on Wednesday. 

The eighth seed, 39, fell 6-7 (6-8), 5-7 in under just two hours to the 44th-ranked Argentine, a surprise semi-finalist at last year’s Roland Garros. Williams, a four-time Rome winner and 23-time Grand Slam champion, had not played since her semi-final defeat in the Australian Open this year. The early exit is a blow three weeks before the French Open in Paris on May 30 where the American continues her bid to equal Australia’s Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam trophies.