Venus Williams falls to Sara Errani
— -- NEW YORK -- Sara Errani wagged her finger and cupped her hand to her ear for the US Open fans who tried to will Venus Williams to victory.
"I think I will remember forever that moment," Errani said.
Two points from defeat, the diminutive Italian rallied to force a third-set tiebreaker and outlasted Williams in a match that was both lopsided and tight.
Errani won 6-0, 0-6, 7-6 (5) in the third round Friday after Williams had a chance to serve out the match in the final set.
Williams twice came back from down a break in the third but was done in by too many unforced errors -- she had 52 in the match.
Errani, seeded 13th, next faces 121st-ranked qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who stunned second-seeded Simona Halep 7-6 (6), 6-2. The 32-year-old Lucic-Baroni hasn't made a Grand Slam round of 16 since 1999, waylaid by injuries and financial struggles.
"I feel like a little kid, like this is the first time ever happening," Lucic-Baroni said.
Halep, the French Open runner-up and Wimbledon semifinalist, had three set points in the first while ahead 5-2, before collapsing. When that lead slipped away, Halep said, "I wasn't in a good mood."
Trying to close out the match at 5-3 in the third set, the 19th-seeded Williams had one of her eight double faults.
Errani won just 12 games in three previous meetings with Williams. But in the first set, Williams couldn't take advantage of her power, making just 30 percent of her first serves.
Errani used her quickness to run Williams around the court, and the 34-year-old looked sluggish after playing a long doubles match with her sister Thursday night.
"Even if I won the first set 6-love, she's an amazing player," Errani said in an on-court interview.
And in the second, Williams indeed looked like the seven-time major champion she is, pouncing on Errani's soft serves.
"She's playing unbelievable," Errani said. "I really don't know how I won today."
Errani just had a little more left in the final set.
"I was ready to just fight," said Errani, who wasn't thrilled with fans yelling out support for her opponent during her serves.
Williams had four more unforced errors in the tiebreaker. And Errani's quick reflexes, honed in doubles, gave her match point when she stabbed a backhand volley to return what looked like a sure winner by Williams.
"Unbelievable," Errani said. "If I don't do that, maybe I lose."
Williams is 34, dealing with an autoimmune disease, and hasn't been to the fourth round at a major since 2011. She also played a doubles match Thursday with her sister Serena that lasted about 2½ hours and finished shortly before 8 p.m.
"I guess the schedule definitely wasn't ideal," Williams said. "It was just such a late match."
After losing to Errani, Williams went on court again for doubles and won that one, although she was treated by a trainer.
Williams did not blame injury or fatigue for the way she failed to close out Errani, including getting broken while serving at 5-3 in the third.
"I went for too much," explained Williams, 3-0 against Errani until Friday.
"She just played one of the best matches of her life," Williams added.
Errani reached the final at the French Open and the semis at the US Open in 2012, but both times she was routed by power players: Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Errani is listed at 5-foot-4½ -- 8½ inches shorter than Williams -- and truly, there is just as big a disparity in their serving. Errani's top speed Friday was 88 mph, about 30 mph slower than Williams. Errani's second serves were in the low 60s mph, but she got 86 percent of her first serves in.
"I know (people) say my serve is terrible, but it helped me get to where I've been," Errani said. "It's not easy to improve it. It's definitely one of my weak points, but today it helped me."
Her next opponent will be another surprise winner: 32-year-old qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia, who eliminated No. 2-seeded Simona Halep of Romania 7-6 (6), 6-2. Lucic-Baroni hadn't reached the fourth round at a major since getting to Wimbledon's semifinals in 1999.
"I feel," she said, "like a little kid; like this is the first time ever."
Half of the top eight seeded women already are out, with Halep joining No. 6 Angelique Kerber (beaten 6-1, 7-5 Friday by 17-year-old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland), and earlier losers No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 8 Ana Ivanovic.
Sloane Stephens in the second round.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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