RG second round: Schmiedlova dispatches Venus, Muguruza thrashes Serena! You’ve read it right!

It’s not vice versa! Anna Schmiedlova and Garbine Muguruza defeated Venus Williams and Serena Williams, respectively. And when you realize that Serena fell out of the draw just one hour after her sister and that her conqueror managed to do it in two straightforward sets, the outcome can’t be more shocking. What was expected to be an all-Williams French Open third-rounder will be a match between world No.56 Schmiedlova of Slovakia and world No.35 Muguruza of Spain.

Even though a surprise, Venus’ 2-6 6-3 6-4 loss to Schmiedlova is not as shocking as her sister’s. This is the eighth time in Venus’ last nine Grand Slams that she has failed to win more than one match and today she committed 47 unforced errors to her opponent’s 20, not balancing the gap with enough winners.

But Serena’s loss is her worst ever! Worse even that her first-round slump against Virginie Razzano two years ago also at Roland Garros. Then Serena was on a 17-match winning streak on clay and had never lost in the first round of a Grand Slam on 46 occasions, but at least the fight was dramatic. Today, the reigning champion and top seed gave the match away 6-2 6-2, dropping five of eight service games, making the loss historic as it is the first time that she won fewer than five games in a Grand Slam match.

As second seed Li Na was stunned by Kristina Mladenovic yesterday in the first round, for the first time in the open era we will have the third round of a Grand Slam without the top two seeds. Oh well… I will finish the post with Li’s quote, which can also be applied to the world No.1 Serena:

Nobody say if you are number 2 in the world, you have to win all the matches.

(photo: Jimmie48)