Serena and Venus Williams knocked out of doubles’ play by Czech duo at US Open
Serena Williams and Venus Williams were both denied their chance to win the mixed doubles women’s title after trailing 5-0 in the first set.
Both women have hit back from their previous two setbacks, with Serena taking the first set in a loss at the French Open last month and Venus recovering from a 4-1 deficit in the final set of a victory over Maria Sharapova at the Western & Southern Open.
The loss in the opener, where Williams and Sharapova each won all three of their games, came on Day 4 of the US Open and was followed by a 4-1 setback to Czech duo Lucie Safarova and Lucie Hradecka.
While Venus and Williams will hope to get back on the winning track in their next match, Lucie Safarova and Lucie Hradecka will now take their chances from having missed out in straight sets.
When asked about the setbacks, Serena, 36, said: “I’m not giving up on those games. I’m trying to find my rhythm.
“I think that when you face those matches and you have a bad day one, two, three, four, you have to work to go back and get it all back. I’m making a change in my game and I’m going to continue to make changes until my game is back. That’s all I can ask for is to take my game back.
“I’m doing things that are very similar but I’m making the changes and I’m still finding my rhythm. I think that what we’ve done the last three matches has been good. We’ve had a couple of bad days and we’ve had to learn from that, but I think it’s been pretty good.”
When asked about a possible partnership with Venus going forward, Serena said: “She and I would be great partners. I think it’s going to happen. I feel like there is an opportunity. I think she
