Serena And Venus Williams Crashed Out Of The Olympic Games.

Three-time doubles gold medalists Venus and Serena Williams have lost their first-ever Olympics doubles match. 

 

The tennis champions have won gold in the doubles matches at London 2012, Beijing's 2008 Games and at Sydney's Olympics in 2000. 

 

They were favorites to take home their fourth gold on Sunday, when they lost in straight sets to the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova in 93 minutes. 

 

It comes as yet another blow for Venus who crashed out of the women's singles Olympic tennis tournament in Rio on Saturday.

 

Four-time gold medalist Venus, who is ranked 6th best player in the world, lost to Belgium's Kirsten 

 Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in a three-hour center court marathon, marking her first ever opening round loss. 

 

Serena had better luck, managing to hold on to her Olympic singles gold medal, winning with a patchy-at-times 6-4, 6-2 victory over Australia's Daria Gavrilova on Sunday. 

Three-time doubles gold medalists Venus and Serena Williams have lost their first ever Olympics match (Serena reacts after losing a point at the net in a doubles match).

 

Venus Williams, of the United States, right, talks with her sister Serena after losing a point in a doubles match against Lucie Sarfarova and Barbora Strycova.

 

Venus Williams shows her frustration after losing a point in a doubles match with her sister Serena

But the tennis star appeared frustrated with her own performance, yelling on the court. 'I'm always frustrated on the court if it's not perfect,' the American said.

 

Williams had not competed since collecting her Open-era record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. She's now won 19 of her past 20 matches.

 

Seeded No. 1 at the Rio de Janeiro Games, Williams was hardly at her best in the 91-minute contest against Gavrilova, who is ranked 46th and only once has been past the second round at a major tournament.

 

Players have noticed that the green courts in Rio play slower and offer higher bounces than hard courts used on the North American circuit leading to the U.S. Open later this month.

 

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'Fortunately enough, I am a pretty good clay-court player, so I'm OK with the slow courts,' said Williams, a three-time French Open champion. 'You have to hit about three or four more shots or just play a little bit better. It's OK. I'm getting used to the conditions as a whole.'

 

Later Sunday, Williams and her older sister Venus lost an Olympic doubles match for the first time.  

On Saturday night, Venus' availability for doubles was put in doubt by U.S. women's tennis coach Mary Joe Fernandez, who said the four-time gold medalist and seven-time Grand Slam champion had cramping, dehydration and an upset stomach following a first-round loss in singles.

 Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova (R) and Barbora Strycova celebrate after winning their women's first round doubles tennis match against USA's Serena.