Tennis sisters Venus and Serena Williams were set up to play each other in the third round of the French Open, but their opponents didn’t get the memo.
Serena, number one ranked women’s tennis player and defending French Open champion, lost her match in a little over an hour May 28 to Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-2, 6-2.
“It was one of those days,” Serena told ESPN. “You can’t be on every day, and, gosh, I hate to be off during a Grand Slam. It happens, you know. It’s not the end of the world. It is what it is.”
This was Serena’s earliest exit in a tournament since 2012.
Prior to Serena’s match, Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia eliminated her sister Venus, 2-6 6-3, 6-4.
“I felt like this was a match that I was most likely going to win,” Venus said. “I don’t know how Serena felt, but I’m sure she feels like that every time she goes on the court. So I think our expectation was to play in the next round.”
This is the third time that Venus and Serena have lost on the same day at a major tournament. The first was at during the French Open in 2008 in the third round and the other came during the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2011.
In addition to the Williams’ sisters, second ranked tennis player Li Na also was eliminated. It is the first time in the Open era that the top two seeded women have lost before the third round at any Grand Slam tournament.
