Venus and Serena Williams have crashed out of the doubles at the Australian Open today to Italian duo Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
Errani and Vinci are the top seeds in the women's doubles but quickly fell a set behind as the Williams sisters claimed the opener 6-3 with some ferocious hitting at the baseline.
A tight second set went all the way to a tie-breaker but it was the Italians who stayed strong to level the match with a comfortable 7-1 win in the breaker.
Unforced errors crept into Serena and Venus's game under pressure in the tie-break and they became commonplace as both teams tightened up in a tense third set.
Each duo traded breaks of serve until Errani and Vinci had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4, but the Williams sisters dug deep to break and stay alive.
Just as the tide seemed to be turning Venus produced a pair of untimely double faults to hand her opponents another break, and this time the Italian pair made it count.
The top seeds served out the match 3-6 7-6(1) 7-5 to send Serena and Venus packing in the quarter-finals and end Venus Williams's involvement at this year's Aussie Open.
Liam Power
