Juan Martin del Potro “cried a lot” after his shock win over Novak Djokovic and had less than five hours sleep before his second-round match at the Rio Olympics. Each of the two sets Sunday night required a tiebreaker, but Del Potro came out on top both times to secure a 7-6, 7-6 victory and advance to the second round.
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“I’m getting better. I’m in good shape, but I don’t know if I’m prepared to play six or more matches”, he said.
Meanwhile, Williams and sister Serena suffered first ever defeat in doubles, a record with 15 successive match wins, lost 6-3, 6-4 loss to Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova after Venus was knocked out of singles.
Since then, Novak Djokovic has topped the world rankings for over two consecutive years, from July 2014 through the present. “I am just going slowly, trying to get better every day and I think I am doing well”.
The world number one was beaten 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2) by the risky Argentine in his first round match.
Del Potro will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the second round on Monday.
Twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova overpowered Denmark’s former World No 1 6-2 6-4 to progress to the third round.
According to Del Proto, it was a wonderful evening from the beginning.
“We played bad”, Serena said, “and it showed in the results”.
Nadal, gold medallist in the men’s singles at Beijing 2008, beat Andreas Seppi 6-3 6-3 in the second round.
The Brazilian success comes a day after Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa scored a major upset on Sunday (7 August) night by knocking Great Britain’s Jamie and Andy Murray out in the first-round of the doubles after an epic tie-break.
The 30-year-old Spaniard, sidelined by a left wrist injury since the French Open, set up a clash with Italian veteran Andreas Seppi who he has beaten eight times in nine meetings.
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Juan Martin del Potro celebrates his victory.
