"In the tiebreak I probably went for too much, too soon," Williams said. "I guess I'll have a lot of time to think about it now."
Her eyes downcast as she packed up, she managed a quick smile and a wave to the crowd as she walked off court.
Williams, a four-time Grand Slam titlist, was sidelined with an abdominal injury for six months and was returning to tournament play for the first time since losing the Wimbledon final to Serena last July. She played two exhibition matches in Hong Kong before coming to Melbourne.
Asked if she was not 100 percent, Williams said: "Everybody has their issues. I don't want to get into it."
Eighth-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina beat No. 32 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa and Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis, seeded 10th, ousted Mario Ancic of Croatia, but 14th-seeded Jiri Novak lost in five sets to Andrei Pavel.
In women's third-round singles, sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina beat No. 28 Maria Sharapova in an all-Russian match; No. 9 Chanda Rubin ousted Russian Elena Likhovtseva; No. 20 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy rallied from a set down to defeat American Amy Frazier; and No. 29 Nathalie Dechy of France beat Japan's Saori Obata.
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