Serena and Venus Williams knocked out of doubles’ play by Czech duo at US Open
PITTSBURGH — There was no rest for the weary, but a single-match tennis match could wait.
The women’s doubles team of Serena and Venus Williams was sent packing from the U.S. Open finals on Sunday morning by the Czech team of Jarmila Gajdosova and Barbora Strycova after their 6-2, 6-4 win over the Williams sisters in the third set.
The Williams sisters had become one of the favorites to win their first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows, only to fall apart in a very tough semifinal against Kimiko Date-Krumm and Peng Shuai. It was the first time that the Williams sisters played singles together, with Serena having won their first title in 2012.
The loss came one day after Venus had played doubles with sister Serena for the first time, defeating Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-4, 6-2. After taking a narrow lead in women’s finals, Williams had become the fifth member of the U.S. Open team to lose in the semifinals. The loss by the Williams sisters means that the U.S. Open doubles team will now be without its two-time defending women’s champion, Sania Mirza and Monica Seles, next year.
The duo of Williams and Serena Williams could have taken four more points from the fourth set, but fell behind by as many as ten points.
“I feel like we played a little too much to the point where we didn’t have much to lose,” said Venus as she left the court.
She said her sister Serena was the better of the two by far, “but I still thought that we can improve and play in a better way. We are both very talented and have a lot of potential.”
Williams, who had been trying to recover after surgery to remove blood clots from her right knee, could not have enjoyed the final victory Sunday, as she and her entire family were hit by lightning. The Williams sisters had left the court immediately after their match to avoid the storm.
“We were going to go out there and enjoy the moment and look forward to the next