Palm Desert resident Desirae Krawczyk had her serve broken twice in the second set, forcing a decisive tiebreaker, as she and Danielle Collins lost their second-round Olympics women’s tennis doubles match to Ukrainian twins, Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok, 3-6, 6-4, 10-7, Wednesday.
After winning the first set in 40 minutes, the fourth-seeded American duo broke Nadiia Kichenok’s serve in the first game of the second set at Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros Stadium. However, Krawczyk’s serve was broken in the next game.
The teams remained on serve until the 10th game when Krawczyk’s serve was broken again, with the Ukrainians winning the final three points, two on winners, after Krawczyk’s lone ace of the match.
The Americans never led in the tiebreaker, with the Ukrainians taking the lead for good with three consecutive points on a winner and two unforced errors following a 1-1 tie. After the Americans closed the deficit to 4-3, the Ukrainians won the next three points on three backhand volley winners.
The Ukrainians closed out the tiebreaker on the third match point.
Krawczyk held serve in each of her three service games in the first set.
Collins retired from her quarterfinal singles match against top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland earlier Wednesday. She said she had an injured stomach muscle caused by cramping and dehydration from a lack of cold water available during a match in heat that reached 97 degrees.
The eighth-seeded Collins blamed Olympic organizers for not having insulated water bottles, for the water not being cool enough and for not “prioritizing the health of the athletes.
“It’s incredibly disappointing because you work so hard your whole life to make it to the Olympics — and this is my first and my last Olympics — and something like not having adequate water on court, that’s really frustrating and it’s really sad,” said the 30-year-old Collins, who has said she will retire from competitive tennis at the end of this season.