By Another spectacular upset has been witnessed at the ongoing Olympics in Brazil. This time, the world nunber 1 female tennis player, Serena Williams has been unceremoniously bundled out of the competition. Less ratedElina Svitolina of Ukraine dished out this unanticipated upset which has sent a shocking feeling to fans of the American who only days ago lost in the women’s double alongside her sister, Venus.
It took Svitolina one hour and 12 minutes to defeat the London 2012 defending champion 6-4, 6-3 in the third round yesterday.
Williams, 34, entered the night with a 4-0 record against her 21-year-old opponent and made 37 unforced errors, includingy eight double-faults. Fiive of those came in one game.
The loss marks the end Williams’ quest for Olympic gold at Rio 2016 since she and sister Venus Williams were knocked from the doubles tournament in a first-round stunner on 7 August.
With the elimination of the favourite, and the player who has sat atop the standings since February 2013, the door is open for Germany’s Angelique Kerber, the world no. 2 and Australian Open champion. Kerber plays Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, ranked no. 10, in the quarter-finals today.
Serena Williams’ early exit from the Olympic Games is just the latest in a remarkable string of upsets at Rio 2016.
Men’s world no. 1 Novak Djokovic was eliminated by 2009 US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina’s on 7 August. Like Williams, the tennis star left centre court in tears.
A day later on 8 August, the Serbian with 12 Grand Slam titles was also beaten in the second round of men’s doubles and said he will not play mixed doubles.
