Serena Williams suffers shock Olympics tennis defeat to Elina Svitolina
Last Updated: 10/08/16 10:37am
An unpredictable Olympic tennis tournament claimed its biggest scalp of all as Serena Williams crashed out in the third round of the women's singles.
The world No 1 appeared to have a shoulder problem and was close to tears as she lost 6-4 6-3 to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
Serena and sister Venus are the most successful players in Olympic tennis history with four gold medals each but Rio has been dreadful for the family.
Venus lost in the opening round of the singles to Kirsten Flipkens while the sisters lost their first ever Olympic doubles match on Sunday.
Serena won gold in both events in London four years ago and appeared to have put doubts about her form to bed by winning her 22nd Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon last month.
The 34-year-old's exit means Angelique Kerber and Madison Keys are the only top-eight seeds remaining of what had appeared a very strong field.
"Obviously I am very disappointed. The better player won but I can't wait for next time. That will be a really good match and I look forward to it," said Williams.
"It was a great opportunity. It didn't work out the way I wanted it to, but at least I was able to make it to Rio. That was one of my goals. It was awesome and fun, but it's over now."
Svitolina, who had lost her previous four matches against Williams, said: "I didn't expect that I could win and I said don't think she will make a mistake. Just fight and focus.
"I stayed in the moment, relaxed and went for my shots especially in second set because it was really tight.
"I tried not to think about playing Serena, the Olympic champion and so many Grand Slams. I also thought she may be injured but I tried not to think about it too much."
