Svitolina shocks Serena in third round

Elina Svitolina, a 21-year-old Ukrainian tennis player from Kharkiv, has produced the biggest shock result in the Olympic tennis competition so far by beating USA tennis legend Serena Williams.

A day after losing three No. 1 seeds, the biggest favorite in the tournament tumbled when today when World No. 1 and 4-time gold medalist Serena Williams was bounced in routine fashion by the Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-3.

Svitolina, who has been working with former No. 1 player Justine Henin, said she “got the feeling” Williams might have been hurting but was more concerned about herself. This Olympic tournament has been cruel to No. 1 seeds: Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the first round, as was the French doubles duo of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

“Obviously I am disappointed but she played really well, and the better player today won”, Serena said.

“I don’t really measure against other players my age”, Svitolina told Sports Illustrated at the time.

“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”, Williams said.

As with all of the Olympics tennis coverage from Rio 2016, the matches on Wednesday will be broadcast throughout the day on Bravo starting at 9:45 a.m. ET with the first matches.

Serena Williams was the leading gold medallist but has now lost the chance to get any medal for the Olympics at all. Serena, who appeared to be struggling with a shoulder injury throughout the match, was close to tears when she left the court of what could be her last Olympics.

China’s Deng Wei created a new world record in weightlifting, while Serena Williams faced a shock exit in singles. The fans were overjoyed that Williams finally had her game up.

“To win a gold medal at the Olympics (would) make it so special, and if I can do it it’s just … unreal”, she said.

Murray takes on Fabio Fognini for a place in the men’s quarters, while Svitolina’s reward is a last-eight clash with 11th seed Petra Kvitova.

Murray reeled off five games against the world number 108 and was soon 4-0 up in the second set before going on to claim victory in just 69 minutes.

Svitolina has won four WTA singles titles: the 2013 Baku Cup; the 2014 Baku Cup; the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Marrakech i; and the Malaysian Open in 2016.

She expressed her disappointment at the results, after the game.

Svitolina ended the first set with an ace and a blank stare, as if this were no big deal and she knew she would do this all along.

“It was a career opportunity”. The next Grand Slam is never more than 90 days away; its hard to lose here and think about Tokyo in four years. Crazily enough, she’s the second-highest seed remaining.