Venus and Serena Williams bowed out of the US Open ladies’s doubles within the first spherical after dropping 7-6 (5), 6-4 to the Czech crew of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova on Thursday night time earlier than one other packed crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
After Hradecka slotted a backhand volley winner on match level after 2hr 5min, the introduced sellout crowd of 23,859 followers saluted the Williams sisters with a standing ovation as they congratulated their opponents on the web, hugged each other and walked off the courtroom in what could be the ultimate bow for one of many sport’s most embellished partnerships.
With Serena having strongly hinted that she can be retiring after this yr’s US Open, it marked the possible ultimate look of the Williams-Williams crew, who've mixed to win 14 grand slam titles (with a sterling 14-0 document in finals) together with three Olympic gold medals as a crew.
“I’m nonetheless in shock that we received,” Hradecka, a two-time main doubles champion, mentioned to the gang in an on-court interview. “I’m so sorry for you that we beat them, however we're so blissful that we did it.”
Noskova added: “Taking part in towards the Williams sisters is a particular second for everyone, anybody and anytime.”
4 and a half years since they final took the doubles courtroom collectively and greater than six since their most up-to-date main title at Wimbledon in 2016, the Williams sisters acquired a wild-card entry on this yr’s US Open doubles discipline.
Whereas doubles matches at any stage of the event are hardly ever scheduled for the high-priced night time periods on Ashe, a first-round doubles match like Thursday’s on the primary stadium courtroom was a event first.
There was little to separate the pairs throughout a tense 72-minute opening set. However the Williams sisters have been unable to transform a pair of break-point possibilities with Noskova serving at 4-5, then let a 5-3 benefit within the tie-breaker slip away.
After getting damaged of their opening service recreation of the second, the Williamses made one ultimate push to get again on serve earlier than the Czech duo broke clear.
It marked solely the second time the Williams sisters have misplaced within the first spherical at a grand slam and the primary in 25 years, once they bowed to the Canadian-American pair of Jill Hetherington and Kathy Rinaldi-Stunkel on the 1997 US Open, the primary main they performed collectively.
Serena will flip her concentrate on solely on the singles, the place she is going to face Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic within the third spherical on Friday night time.
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