Defending champion Andy Murray survived a scare to reach the Olympic men’s singles quarter-finals with a 6-1 2-6 6-3 victory over Italian Fabio Fognini.
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The 27-year-old Argentine, who stands 6 feet 6 inches (1.98m), deployed his barrelling serve and crushing forehand to outmatch Nadal 5-7 6-4 7-6 (5).
I went for a 6-4 opening set to Murray, but he ended up recording that score in set two instead, as he cruised past a tired Nishikori 6-1 in the first set.
Murray took the first break point that came his way to move 3-1 up in the first set, and he quickly picked up a second to put himself in position to serve for the lead.
Andy Murray is closing in on becoming the first tennis player with consecutive Olympic singles gold medals.
But three-times Grand Slam champion Murray refused to panic, and promptly broke back before seeing off a Johnson break point at 4-4 in the third set which appeared to be a virtual match point due to the fearless way the California native was approaching the ball.
“It was a very tough match and I just managed to turn it around in the end”, Murray told reporters.
The victor of that tie will meet either Juan Martin del Potro, the conqueror of Novak Djokovic, or Roberto Bautista Agut for a place in Sunday’s final.
“I didn’t expect to reach the final, beating Djokovic and Rafa”, del Potro said, “but I did, and I get a medal, and it’s fantastic for me”. “It’s something new for me to have to come back and play another match after losing”. With the victory, the USA territory won its first ever Olympic gold medal, and its ninth medal in history.
In the tiebreak, with Nishikori ahead 5-4, Monfils hit into the net to hand a second set point to his opponent, and then repeated the error to give the Japanese player the set.
Brazil’s Thomaz Belucci beat Belgium’s David Goffin in two close sets on Thursday to set up a quarter-final clash between against Nadal. I’m not really thinking about the stuff that goes with it. This time, he won his quarterfinal match in a two hour-plus epic.
The German is having an excellent season having won the Australian Open and reached the final of Wimbledon and could overtake Serena Williams to become world number one in the coming weeks.
Del Potro, the conqueror of Djokovic in round one, saw off Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5 7-6 (7/4) to continue his fairytale run after three wrist operations.
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Big-hitting American Madison Keys was the first woman through to the semi-finals, with the 21-year-old beating Daria Kasatkina of Russian Federation 6-3 6-1.
