Townsend only one who thought Serena won in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - Taylor Townsend was so wrapped up preparing for her own match at the French Open she did not realise that her fellow American, world No. 1 Serena Williams, had lost.

The exits of the Williams sisters, defending champion Serena and her elder sister Venus, in the second round was the big story on Wednesday.

Townsend, 18 and playing in her first grand slam singles, was asked how it felt to win on the same court where hours earlier Serena had lost.

"Serena lost? She did? Oh, oops. Whoa," the world number 205 exclaimed.

'Seriously, you didn't know?' she was asked.

"No, I thought she won. I saw (6-)2 and (6-)2. I was like 'Oh, that was fast'," added Townsend.

"Wow. Anyways ... Um, wow, that was interesting."

Townsend wrote her own headlines by beating 20th seed Alize Cornet of France 6-4 4-6 6-4 to reach the third round.

(Reporting By Robert Woodward, editing by Pritha Sarkar)