Melbourne, Jan. 20 -- Venus Williams and Ekaterina Alexandrova exited the women's doubles competition at the Australian Open after suffering a first-round defeat on Tuesday.
The pair were beaten 7-6 (3), 6-4 by France's Elsa Jacquemot and Colombia's Emiliana Arango in a closely contested encounter.
The opening set saw both teams trade blows in an intense back-and-forth battle before Jacquemot and Arango edged ahead to clinch the tiebreak. Building on that momentum, the Franco-Colombian duo gained control in the second set and, despite a spirited fightback from Williams and Alexandrova, sealed the match to progress to the next round.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from United News of India....