American sisters Venus and Serena Williams were eliminated in the third round of the French Open on Friday, both losing in straight sets more than eight hours apart.
Katarina Srebotnik defeated Serena 6-4, 6-4, followed by Flavia Penetta’s 7-5, 6-3 victory over Venus.
The double defeats meant that for the first time in the Open era, there will be no American woman in the fourth round at Roland Garros. The only US player left is Robby Ginepri on the men’s side.
Winners of 14 Grand Slam titles, the Williams sisters lost to two tour veterans who have never reached a major quarter-final.
“It wasn’t a good day for our family,” Venus said. “But we always learn and get more determined after a loss. We’ll just come back harder.”
“I was a little inconsistent,” Venus said. “I was pretty upset about losing the first set, and didn’t stay focused on the big picture, and let it get away from me.”
To beat the older Williams, Pennetta had to beat darkness and she closed out the victory with a forehand winner at 9:47pm.
Seeded 26th, Pennetta advanced to the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time.
No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic was leading No. 28 Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 4-2 when darkness forced their match to be suspended.
Among those staying for the fourth round was No. 10 Patty Schnyder, who defeated Emilie Loit 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2. No. 11 Vera Zvonareva and No. 25 Nadia Petrova completed rain-interrupted, second-round wins.
On the men’s side, No. 10 Andy Murray was eliminated by No. 19 Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-5, and No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny lost to No. 22 Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.
No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic beat Wayne Odesnik 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
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