Svitolina said she was not surprised by Williams’ uncharacteristic serving up of five double faults. She also had three gold medals in doubles with her sister from the 2012 games, 2008 in Beijing and 2000 in Sydney.
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The entire contest lasted 72 minutes.
The American did not look at all like the player won an Open Era record-equalling 22nd Major at Wimbledon just one month back. “I felt like everyone was really stepping up their game and playing how we wanted to play and set the tone for the tournament”.
“Hey, I’m happy to be on the same team as Serena Williams, it’s thanks to her that I was able to get my ranking up and qualify”, said Keys. “It was awesome, but it’s over now”.
Serena and sister Venus are the most successful players in Olympic tennis history with four gold medals each but Rio has been awful for the family. Now, Serena has been eliminated from Rio competition entirely.
Williams had won three doubles Olympic titles with Venus.
The 34-year-old was broken in the first set and couldn’t recover against the Ukrainian. She had 26 winners but 37 unforced errors.
Williams is not the only top seed to succumb in Rio.
The men’s field had seen their big shock on Sunday when Djokovic went out against Argentine Juan Martin del Potro. This marked his first marquee win since his comeback on the tour.
The United States never trailed against Spain, with Neushul scoring the first two goals and Johnson taking over from there in a commanding performance in her Olympic debut.
Things were much smoother for defending men’s champion Andy Murray and 2008 victor Rafael Nadal, who coasted into the third round in straight sets.
A day later on 8 August, the Serbian with 12 Grand Slam titles was also beaten in the second round of men’s doubles and said he will not play mixed doubles.
This is Nadal’s first tournament since he pulled out of the French Open in May with a wrist injury, and the No. 3 seed wasn’t even sure he would compete in Brazil. She had advanced to the final of this year’s Australian Open and French Open, but lost to Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza, respectively. However, she ignored the media after the games. Don’t play against Serena Williams, Olympic champion and so many Grand Slams. A victory over the two-time Wimbledon champion would certainly bring Svitolina’s dream closer to a reality.
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“I didn’t really think I could win until it was 40-30 and I finally won the match”, Svitolina said.
