Photo by Julie Edgley
A huge upset unfolded in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday as Czech pairing Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova knocked out the reigning Olympic Doubles champions Serena and Venus Williams. The Czech duo shocked the sisters in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
The Williams sisters won the women’s doubles title at the 2000 Sydney Games and in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London events. They didn’t compete in the 2004 Doubles event and held a perfect 15-0 record in women’s doubles tennis entering the match.
“We played terrible,†Serena said, “and it showed in the results.â€
Remarkably, Strycova and Safarova had only played together once in competition prior to the match – a losing effort in a Fed Cup match.
Results Wire:Lucie Safarova / Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Serena Williams / Venus Williams (USA) 6-3 6-4
Andrea Hlavackova / Lucie Hradecka (CZE) v Olga Savchuk / Elina Svitolina (UKR) 7-6(1) 1-6 4-1
Yifan Xu / Saisai Zheng (CHN) bt Liudmyla Kichenok / Nadiia Kichenok (UKR) 6-0 6-3
Bethanie Mattek-Sands / Coco Vandeweghe (USA) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues / Arantxa Parra-Santonja (ESP) 6-1 6-1
Eugenie Bouchard / Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) bt Klaudia Jans-Ignacik / Paula Kania (POL) 6-4 5-7 6-3
Sara Errani / Roberta Vinci (ITA) bt Angelique Kerber / Andrea Petkovic (GER) 6-2 6-2
To come:
Kirsten Flipkens / Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) v Yaroslava Shvedova / Galina Voskoboeva (KAZ)
Irina-Camelia Begu / Monica Niculescu (ROU) v Hao-Ching Chan / Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)
Photo by Julie Edgley
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