Serena Williams says she was 'nowhere near' Coco Gauff's level at 15

Serena Williams said that she was "where near" as good as 15-year-old Coco Gauff when she was that as American great reached Australian Open third round Wednesday despite being far from her best. 38-year-old, one short of Australian Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles, fought off a stubborn Tamara Zidansek 6-2, 6-3. Williams faces China's 27th seed Wang Qiang next and could meet her fellow American Gauff in quarter-finals in Melbourne.

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Serena says she was 'where near' Coco

former world number one and Gauff -- touted as a possible long-term successor to Williams at top of women's tennis -- spent some of off-season toger. Williams, sporting a pair of koalas painted on her nails in light of devastation of Australia's dely bushfires, was mightily impressed by what she saw in "fighter" Gauff.

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"She's just impressive all-round, from her personality to way she plays," said Williams, top-earning female athlete in world.

"I think it's just all super-impressive.

"I was where near her level at 15 eir on court or off court, t even close.

"I kw kids are growing up different ways, so I'm t sure. But I was where near as smart and eloquent as she is.

"It's nice to see."

Gauff turfed Serena's older sister Venus out in first round in Melbourne, having done same at Wimbledon last year. Venus turns 40 in June, but Serena said she will be first to retire out of two sisters. "Venus will outplay me, for sure, she loves tennis a lot," said Serena, who is in twilight of her career but has given hint that she plans to quit any time soon. "She works hard on it, just gets unlucky sometimes health-wise obviously." 

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'A lot of errors'

Williams was never in serious trouble against 70th-ranked Slovenian Zidansek in ir second-round match at Rod Laver Arena. But 22-year-old Zidansek put up resistance in second set with Williams twice failing to break when 40-0 up on her stubborn opponent's serve. Eighth-seeded Williams described herself as "frustrated" by her failure to bury her opponent and she half-heartedly saluted crowd at end.

"I was making a lot of errors. Probably most errors I've me since start of year," said Williams, whose last Grand Slam triumph arrived at Australian Open in 2017. Williams, who has won Australian Open seven times, thrashed third-round opponent Wang 6-1, 6-0 when y met in US Open quarter-finals last year. Williams dropped just three games in her opening win over Russian teenr Anastasia Potapova on Monday in Melbourne.

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