The top seeds crashed out in the first round, 6-3, 6-4, to the Czech Republic duo of Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.
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“It was what it was”.
However, U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Tom LaDue told The Associated Press earlier in the day that Williams felt better and was able to compete. I wouldn’t actually say it was devastating, it was a lot of fun, and we’ll always remember these moments, these matches. When the interviewer asked what the most romantic thing that a guy has ever done for her, she promptly responded, “I$3 t hasn’t happened yet”.
Serena is the defending champion in singles while Venus was the title victor in Sydney 16 years ago. The expectations were sky-high for the sisters from Compton who’d been famous years before they turned pro and were just beginning their decorates careers – coming off their first singles Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open (Serena) and Wimbledon (Venus).
Team USA has fared better in doubles, aside from the Williams’s noticeable loss, as Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and CoCo Vandeweghe were victorious in their first-round doubles match. “We like to play into the tournament but we played a tough team”, she said. It wasn’t to be though as they lost three games in a row thereafter and were dumped out of the doubles event at the Olympics.
Serena is through to the second round of the singles after her victory Daria Gavrilova.
Venus Williams finds herself out of the tournament after only two days, unless she decides to play mixed doubles, having lost to Kirsten Flipkens in the opening round of the singles on Saturday night.
Serena, 34, was more damning.
“We played awful, and it showed in the results”, Serena told AP.
London 2012 victor Andy Murray and 2008 Olympic champion Rafael Nadal breezed through in the men’s singles.
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No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber overcame a scratchy start to dismiss Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-3, 7-5. The 2012 gold medalist and world No. 1 won her first-round match earlier Sunday and will play France’s Alize Cornet Monday. “It’s hard to explain the emotions I got walking into that stadium, and obviously that carried over to today”, said the 27-year-old.
