Serena, Venus Williams ousted in second round of French Open

Venus and Serena Williams won’t be playing each other in the third round of the French Open after all.

In fact, the sisters won’t be playing at all, after both of them were upset by little-known opponents in the second round Wednesday.

Serena Williams, the defending champion and top seed, fell to Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-2, 6-2, making her earliest exit from a major tournament since losing 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,” said Williams, who finished the match with only eight winners and 29 unforced errors. “It happens, you know. It’s not the end of the world.”

With Australian Open champion Li Na losing in the first round, this is the first time in the Open era that the two top seeds have been ousted before the third round of a women’s Grand Slam event.

Earlier Wednesday, Venus Williams was knocked off by Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“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,” said the older Williams sister, who was seeded 29th and up an early break in the second set before losing eight of nine games. “So I think our expectation was to play in the next round.”

Venus Williams has now failed to win more than one match in eight of her last nine major tournaments. The one exception was the 2013 Australian Open, where she reached the third round.

The Williams sisters have lost on the same day at a major tournament twice before -- during the third round of the 2008 French Open and the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2011.