Fresh concerns surrounded the fitness of Serena Williams at the Australian Open on Tuesday when she suffered a recurrence of her ankle injury while playing doubles.

Williams twisted her right ankle in the first round of the singles but the world No 3 had been untroubled while moving through to her quarterfinal appointment with Sloane Stephens, to be played on Wednesday.

However, she tweaked the ankle again as she and her sister, Venus, were defeated by the top-seeded Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci on Tuesday. The 12th-seeded Americans lost 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5.