Serena and Venus Williams lost for the first time
in an Olympics doubles match as their hopes of
winning a fourth successive title were
surprisingly ended in the first round at Rio 2016.
The American top seeds lost 6-3 6-4 to Czech
Republic's Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova,
who were only paired together at late notice.
Strycova replaced Karolina Pliskova, who
withdrew because of Zika concerns.
It was the Williams' first defeat in 16 Olympic
matches playing together.
The sisters won gold together at Sydney 2000,
Beijing 2008 and London 2012, but did not
compete at Athens 2004 after Serena pulled out
through injury.
"We played terrible and it showed in the results,"
said 22-time Grand Slam singles title winner
Serena.
Venus, 36, also lost in the singles on Saturday,
with US women's Olympic tennis coach Mary Joe
Fernandez saying afterwards the seven-time
major champion had been sick since before she
arrived in Brazil.
Serena, 34, can still become the first woman to
win two Olympic singles titles after the London
2012 gold medallist beat Australia's Daria
Gavrilova earlier on Sunday.
But Venus, who won the individual title at Sydney
2000, saw her hopes of a fifth gold ended by
Safarova and Strycova.
Neither of the unseeded Czech pair had previously
won an Olympic doubles match, also losing their
only previous outing together in a Fed Cup match
last year.
"It was what it was," Serena said. "We have a
chance to compete for our country and did the
best that we can. We had a blast out there.
"I wouldn't say it was devastating. It was a lot of
fun and we will always remember these moments
and these matches.
"At the end of the day, I think that's what matters
most. BBC
source
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