French fried: Williams sisters out early at Roland Garros

By foxsports
Published

PARIS --€“ On the bright side, at least Serena and Venus will now be able to vacation together in France.

Serena Williams lost in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday, her earliest exit at a major tournament since falling in the first round at Roland Garros 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," Serena said. "It happens, you know. It's not the end of the world. It is what it is."

Venus Williams was also bounced in the second round, the eighth time in her last nine major tournaments that she has failed to win more than one match.

"I felt like this was a match that I was most likely going to win. 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," Venus said. "So I think our expectation was to play in the next round."

Serena Williams, the defending French Open champion and a 17-time major winner, lost to Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-2, 6-2, just shortly after Venus fell to Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The sisters would have met in the third round had they both won. The stunning defeats sent Twitter abuzz.  

Venus Williams, the seven-time Grand Slam champion, won the first set and was up an early break in the second against Anna Schmiedlova. But the 19-year-old Slovak responded by taking eight of nine games and won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Venus Williams, however, has had a rough go of it the past few years. Since reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2011, Venus has been eliminated in the first or second round at every Grand Slam tournament she has played except the 2013 Australian Open, where she reached the third round.

Against Schmiedlova, the 29th-seeded Venus ended up with 47 unforced errors. Schmiedlova had only 20.

Venus Williams won the last of her seven major titles at Wimbledon in 2008. She has never won the French Open, but lost to Serena in the 2002 final in their only meeting at Roland Garros.

"I don't think anything worked for me today, which is just nothing really worked," Serena said. "I don't know anything that actually worked."