2016 Rio Olympics: Serena Williams upset by Ukranian Elina Svitolina in straight sets
Top seed Serena Williams fell in straight sets to Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the women’s singles competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics on Tuesday night.
Svitolina was able to capitalize on an uncharacteristically sloppy match from Williams, who had 37 unforced errors and eight double faults. Svitolina broke Williams three times in the second set, including a break when Williams had five double faults in a single game.
It was clear that something was off with Williams as she struggled to keep the ball in play throughout the match and could never create the service advantage she’s so accustomed to against Svitolina. By the end, Williams was visibly frustrated with her play, looking desperately to her box in search of answers as she dumped double faults into the net and pushed unforced errors out of the court.
With Williams’ loss on Tuesday, all of the top seeds in all tennis competitions at the Rio Olympics have been eliminated before the quarterfinals.
Novak Djokovic, the French men’s doubles team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert and the American women’s doubles team of Serena and Venus Williams were all eliminated in the first rounds of their respective competitions.