The second day of the 2016 Rio Olympics was full of ups and downs for Serena Williams.
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United States tennis superstar Serena Williams, the world No. 1, rolled over Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-2 Sunday in her debut at the Rio Summer Olympics.
The heavy wind made conditions hard and both players seemed tentative in the first set, but the match also featured some long, splendid rallies on the slow court.
One destroyed racket – and one poor set – later, Serena Williams made it safely into the third round of the Rio Olympics as she bids for a second consecutive singles gold medal.
As if gaining a measure of revenge against Cornet wasn’t enough to motivate Williams, this was also her first match since her loss in the opening round of the women’s doubles tournament. Though Williams earned an early break in the next game, her advantage would not last long.
After an opening set that took almost an hour and a half and during which she had to save two set points, Williams rolled to a 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory that put her in the third round of the Rio Games’ women’s singles tournament. She’d recover to win the tiebreaker cruised through the second set.
“Oh that’s cool. Well I hope they can get gold and silver – I always root for sisters”. But Cornet battled back in the next two games. “I came here for my first Olympic Games with a very open and positive mind and so far the experience has been really great – sleeping in the village, seeing all the other athletes, having a good time”.
Muhammad, ranked eighth in the world in sabre, beat Ukranian Olena Kravatska 15-13 in her first match before falling to France’s Cecilia Berder 15-12 in the round of 16.
“I don’t know if I like to play her or she doesn’t like to play me, but there’s got to be something there because every time it’s a big match”, Cornet said. She’s tireless, her game is unpredictable, her attitude brazen.
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Williams will meet 15th-seeded Elina Svitolina in the next round. According to Biography.com, the championship tennis player insists on using the same shower, tying her shoes the same way and wearing the same socks for the duration of a tournament.
