Three-time doubles gold medalist Serena and Venus Williams stunned the opening of the Rio de Janeiro Games by losing an Olympic match as partners for the first time to the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova, 6-3, 6-4.
The Williams sisters entered Sunday's match with a 15-0 career record in the Olympics, winning the gold medal in women's doubles every time they entered the event: 2000, 2008 and 2012.
The American duo was seeded No.1 in Rio and coming off a 14 Grand Slam championship together at Wimbledon a month ago.
The defeat was unexpected since neither Safarova nor Strycova had won an Olympic doubles match, going a combined 0-3 with other partners. They weren't even supposed to be playing together at the Olympics. Strycova was a late replacement for Karoline Pliskova, who withdrew from the tournament.
Strycova and Safarova only had played one match as a team before Sunday night. They also lost that in a Fed Cup match last year.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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