Serena and Venus Williams knocked out of doubles’ play by Czech duo at US Open
The first US Open doubles match of the year featured an interesting twist as two doubles teams that had shown dominance came up short against a pair of doubles teams that had been more than a match to beat.
The draw was supposed to feature a rematch of last year’s final, but the new pairing was dropped from the draw at the last minute. The USTA instead seeded the American duo of Maria and Saniadisplaying their ability to defeat any two pairings in the draw that they didn’t play.
The first match came down to the bottom of the top seeded Czech pair of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova. But it was the Williams sisters who dominated, taking out the Czech duo in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Venus and Serena were in control throughout and the gameplan seemed to come from the Williams sisters in particular. This time, it was the Williams sisters that had the momentum and the USTA put the matches on the line.
The second match was much closer. The Czech pair of Lucie Safarova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had already beaten Laura Robson and Jarmila Gajdosova in the first round. They were seeded second in the draw, and were expected to be the favorites in this match. However, they fell to a pair of sisters in the second round, losing in 3 sets, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.
The USTA added a fourth opponent into the draw for the Czechs, but this time, Serena and Venus had to do the deciding match against the Williams sisters and their doubles partner, Daniela Hantuchova.
Once again, Venus carried the USTA’s hopes into round one, winning an all-Williams-all-day match against the Williams sisters and Hantuchova – the pair also falling in the first round.
Venus won the US Open in 2012 by beating the world number one, but this time, it was Serena’s turn to make her triumphant return.
Serena and Venus Williams knocked out of doubles’ play by Czech duo at US Open
The first US Open doubles match of the year featured an interesting twist as