Rio 2016: Serena Williams loses in third round to Elina Svitolina

Serena Williams was upset in the third round of the 2016 Rio Olympics women’s tennis singles competition by Elina Svitolina of Ukraine

When it comes to tennis, be it in the professional realm or in competitions like the Olympics, there’s no more dominant figure than Serena Williams. Coming into the 2016 Rio Olympics women’s tennis singles competition, Serena had captured the last two gold medals in the event in 2008 and 2012 and was the clear favorite to win again.

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However, Serena Williams won’t be earning her third consecutive gold medal at the Olympics in tennis as she was upset on Tuesday during Day 3 of the Games.

Facing off against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, Serena seemingly never got into a rhythm in her match as she lost the first set 6-4 and then went down in the second set 6-3 to lose in straight-sets.

Svitolina came into the 2016 Rio Olympics as the 20th ranked player in the women’s singles competition, but even then no one would have given her (or anyone else) a chance of upsetting Serena Williams when the Games first began. That’s one of the things that makes the Olympics so special, though, is that anything can happen.

Perhaps the craziest part of this Serena Williams upset loss, though, is that it’s only Day 5 of the Games from Rio 2016 and Serena won’t be getting any hardware at all. Obviously the loss to Svitolina takes her out of singles competition, but she also lost in doubles with her sister, Venus Williams, early in that tournament as well.