The Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, one of the biggest favorites to win gold for the US., lost in their first round of women’s doubles while competing in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The sisters won the women’s doubles title in 2000, 2008 and 2012, but were defeated in the first round by the Czech team of Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.
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Seeded first at the tournament, the Americans were beaten 6-3 6-4 in 93 minutes.
This defeat capped a couple of miserable days for older sibling Venus, who was dumped out of the singles draw in the first round by Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens. Earlier Sunday, Serena started the defense of her singles title with a 6-4 6-2 win over Australia’s Daria Gavrilova. She will play Alize Cornet in the second round after the French player overcame Sweden’s Johanna Larsson. h/t cnn
No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany also progressed after defeating Colombia’s Mariana Duque-Marino.