She struggled earlier in Rio, however, losing Sunday in the women’s doubles event with her partner and sister, Venus Williams.
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On Tuesday, Williams saved two match points before batting a forehand long on the third.
Serena had given kudos to her opponent following her second round win, something which made the win all the sweeter for Svitolina, who grew up idolizing the World No.1. “I felt like everyone was really stepping up their game and playing how we wanted to play and set the tone for the tournament”.
“The better player won”, said Williams, who did not take questions from the media after the match and instead did a brief interview with a U.S. Tennis Association spokesman who shared the audio with reporters. “This is the Olympic Games, I know it’s frustrating and disappointing to lose, but it’s my first Games, I was not expecting to come here and win a gold medal like that”.
The number one ranked tennis player in the world has officially been knocked out of the Rio Olympics.
The Rio Games marked Williams’ fourth – and surely last – Olympics, and she has four gold medals in her trophy cabinet. “It’s just unreal to win a gold medal in the Olympics, it’s so special”.
“I don’t really think about it a lot, but it feels great to be an example for other black people to try the sport and pursue higher levels of the sport”, she said. “I was just waiting for my opportunity”.
Novak Djokovic, the French men’s doubles team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert and the American women’s doubles team of Serena and Venus Williams were all eliminated in the first rounds of their respective competitions.
Williams appeared to have a problem with her shoulder and was close to tears as she suffered a shock 6-4 6-3 loss to Svitolina in the third round. Until Tuesday night, Williams had won all four matches she played against the Ukranian dating back to 2012. Svitolina was previously 0-4 against Williams. “And, for me, it was taking the moment”. Still, everything is going exactly to plan for the owner of 14 Grand Slam championships and the 2008 Beijing Olympic title, who beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3. “Just play the ball”, Svitolina said.
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But all those mistakes added up, and now the 2012 London gold medalist in singles and doubles is finished in Rio. “This is just a flawless moment”, said Svitolina, who will face Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals.
