Serena and Venus Williams Both Ousted From French Open

A day after losses by Carolina Wozniacki and Li Na drained the French Open women’s draw of two of its top seeds, top-seeded Serena Williams was stunned by Garbine Muguruza in the second round on Wednesday, knocking the defending champion out of Roland Garros.

The loss marks the first time in the Open Era that both the number one and number two (Li Na) seeds failed to reach the third round of a Grand Slam, and marks the earliest exit by Serena since she lost in the first round of this event two years ago.

“It was one of those days. You can’t be on every day, and, gosh, I hate to be off during a Grand Slam,” said Serena. “It happens, you know. It’s not the end of the world. It is what it is.”

The 20-year old Venezuelan controlled the match throughout and beat Serena in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. She raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first set and had the serve in her hand. Even after Serena held a 40-0 advantage on Muguruza’s serve, the young gun kept her poise and served out the remainder of the set to take it 6-2.

She continued to use her dominant serve to keep Serena Williams on her heels, and never allowed the American to gain a rhythm. She served out the rest of the second set and captured that one as well, clinching the match 6-2, 6-2 in just a little over an hour. 

The Venezuelan had never faced a world number one before, but you wouldn’t know that by watching her play. She dominated Serena in nearly every statistical category, including utilizing five break points to continue to swing momentum back to her side, while also converting five of seven net approaches as she was the more aggressive player all match.

The upset shakes up an already wild first two rounds at the French Open. Many people expected to see Serena meet up with her sister, Venus, in the third round tomorrow, but even older sister Venus was unable to hold up her end of it as she drew a second-round matchup with 19-year old Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia.

Venus looked good early on, winning the first set and jumping on an early break in the second set, but that is when the match began to turn. The Slovak won eight of the next nine games to pull away from the 33-year old American 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I felt like this was a match that I was most likely going to win,” said Venus. “I’m sure, I don’t know how Serena felt, but I’m sure she feels like that every time she goes on the court. So I think our expectation was to play in the next round.”

It has been a disappointing last couple of years for Venus, who has reached the third round of a Grand Slam just once since Wimbledon in 2011. She committed 47 unforced errors compared to just 20 for her Slovakian opponent.

Both upsets set up a third-round matchup between two of the youngest players in the tournament, and brings hope to a lot of other players in the field with some of the favorites facing early exits in the opening rounds.