Williams, who has also captured three doubles golds with sister Serena, had her opportunities, leading 3-1 in the second set and 4-1 in the decider.
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With U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry watching from a second-row seat behind a baseline, the fifth-seeded Williams wasted a 4-1 lead in the final set and was broken while serving for the victory at 5-3.
“I’d be highly surprised if Venus didn’t play, just because it’s been her goal for the last four years”, Fernandez told ESPN.
The top two seeded teams are from France: Caroline Garcia-Nicolas Mahut and Kristina Mladenovic-Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
‘Fortunately enough, I am a pretty good clay-court player, so I’m OK with the slow courts, ‘ said Williams, a three-time French Open champion.
The 27-year-old Del Potro, whose ranking has slumped to 145 after a succession of wrist operations pushed him to the brink of retirement, started the day by getting stuck in an elevator for 40 minutes at the athletes village. “You have to hit about three or four more shots or just play a little bit better”.
But the size of crowds did not bother Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who opened the men’s singles tennis tournament on centre court by knocking out Spain’s Albert Ramos-Viñolas easily, winning 6-2 6-4 in two sets.
Chef de Mission Maurits Hendriks and team doctors were with van Vleuten on Sunday night and said she was conscious and speaking.
“We played bad and that basically showed”, she said. This marks their first loss.
No. 62 was better than No. 6 Saturday as American Venus Williams fell to Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens.
For the record, Venus and her sister were goddesses, owning gold medals since 2000, 2008 and 2012.
‘I’m always frustrated on the court if it’s not ideal, ‘ the American said.
“I wouldn’t stay it’s devastating… we had a chance to compete for our country, we did the best that we can”. We had a blast out there. “It was a lot of fun and we always remember these matches”.
The AP notes that the doubles match was Serena Williams’ second match of the day after winning her first-rounder in singles earlier.
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The Pole only arrived in Rio on Wednesday night after having to fly from Montreal, where she competed last week, to NY to Lisbon and then to Rio.
