Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina hits a return to Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain during their Rio 2016 Olympic Games Men’s Singles match at the Olympic Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12 August 2016. He converted the second on a miss by Nadal, who made only six unforced errors in the first set and 25 over the last two.
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In a rollercoaster of a semi-final, Nadal saved eight break points in the final set before del Potro raced through the tiebreaker. He broke back and seized another break to take the opener. Just congratulations to Del Potro. But if that wasn’t enough, Del Potro simply couldn’t convert and get the break!
Nadal admitted that “things have gone really, really well”.
Del Potro, a bronze medallist in 2012, refused to yield and claimed the only break of the second set with a trademark monster down-the-line forehand in the third game.
Big points, big forehands and big emotions. “I just can’t believe where I am right now”, Puig said. I fought and with great spirit. The Spaniard has already played four singles matches and five doubles matches during this event.
Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro meet in the gold medal match of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
“I gave the last drop of energy I had to try to win another medal”. I am very satisfied by what I did the whole week. But she rallied to win the opening set 6-4 after 36 minutes. That said, the third-place matches are often more about which player is better able to recover mentally from the semifinal disappointment.
Murray, assured of at least a silver medal, hopes to become the first player to win two Olympic singles titles. In the next game, del Potro held three break points at love-40, but Nadal held for a 6-5 lead.
Nishikori finished his quarter-final match a lot later than Murray, so it will be a tough turnaround for the No. 4 seed. He’ll look to continue that play in the finals against Murray.
“He’s getting back to the level he was at before and that’s good to see”.
“I am satisfied. I did my best”.
“I can not believe the moment”, Del Potro commented.
After 112 years away, and three days of what amounted to preliminary heats, golf finally gets the feel of being in the Olympics when medals are awarded.
Nadal has won nine of 10 against Nishikori including earlier this year at Indian Wells.
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And I know Rafa’s tired and worn out, but I think he’ll summon enough to get the bronze here. “Once a guy slips a gold medal around his neck, we’ll all understand how important it is”.
