According to reports gathered by Africa Daily News, New York the sparkling Grand Slam doubles career of Serena and Venus Williams came to a screeching halt on Thursday at the United States Open when the reunited sisters lost to Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in the first round.
The Williams sisters suffered a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 defeat at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in what was almost probably their final match as a Grand Slam doubles team.
The American team, which has won three Olympic gold medals and 14 Grand Slam titles, had not competed in a doubles match since 2018.
However, they were handed a wild card into the draw for this year’s US Open just weeks after Serena indicated she planned to retire following the tournament.
However, only a few weeks after Serena announced that she would be retiring at the completion of the US Open, they received a wild card spot to the draw.
Serena gave an exhilarating, never-say-die display on Wednesday, keeping her US Open singles career alive and enthralling the Arthur Ashe fans on a night of excitement.
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However, the atmosphere was more toned down on Thursday when the two sisters joined forces to begin the night session – Which ended in a loss.
Contrary to Serena, who displayed glimpses of the kind of excellence that had characterized her singles performances this week, Venus, the eldest sister, found it difficult to execute at her peak level while facing the Czech pair.
The Williams sisters paid a heavy price when they missed two chances to secure an important service break in the opening set, as Hradecka and Noskova won the tie break.
Encouraged by their success in the first set, the Czechs broke early in the second and quickly found themselves 4-1 determined with a rush of optimism that they would come out victorious.
But again the Williams family wasn’t going to surrender without a fight, so after holding serve, they pulled out a service break and held again to tie the game at 4-4.
However, Noskova easily held serve for a 5-4 advantage, quickly putting an end to expectations of an incredible comeback.
The Czech team then had three match points at 0-40 on Serena’s serve, and they converted on the second one to conquer.
Serena would return to Flushing Meadows on Friday aiming to extend her singles campaign with a third-round clash against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
With a match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the third round, Serena would travel to Flushing Meadows on Friday in an endeavor to further her singles career.
