World number one Djokovic was stunned by Juan Martin del Potro in the first round at the Games, extending his wait for an Olympics gold.
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The highest seeds remaining in the men’s tournament, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal, progressed into the third round easily.
International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said the Kenya team feels that Michael Rotich’s continued presence in Rio de Janeiro would be “distracting”. Neither has been tested much, dropping a total of nine games apiece so far.
Rafael Nadal’s first tennis tournament in 2½ months is going exactly to plan.
Though he wasn’t ideal on Tuesday, Nadal won his second round match against Italy’s unseeded Andrea Seppi in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
“If there is not Olympic Games I will not be here competing”, said Nadal, “because the wrist needs a little bit more time to be 100 per cent recovered”.
Nadal was in dominant form against Delbonis, converting six break points in the 6-2 6-1 win. I think what he’s been doing is something unbelievable and he can lose sometimes.
RAFAEL NADAL SAYS he would not be competing this week if he was not at the Olympic Games.
“His success is something hard to repeat. But at the same time, he had a very negative draw, against one of the best players of the world”.
What’s not entirely known about Nadal is just how badly his wrist is still bothering him: He said after his first-round match that it’s not fully healed.
In the second round, Nadal competed in his first match on Centre Court against Italy’s Andreas Seppi who is no stranger to an upset as he defeated Federer in the third round of the Australian Open past year. “That’s the reality. Two weeks ago, I didn’t know if I could be here”.
The good news is none of those moments snowballed on Nadal to open the door for Seppi to make a comeback.
Nadal was efficient rather than spectacular behind a rock-solid serve, although Delbonis was competitive when he got the opportunity and stretched his illustrious opponent in several exchanges early in the match. “It’s clear that maybe he’s not the Nadal of a few years ago, but it didn’t seem to me like he was holding back much”.
Nadal is staying busy. Williams and her sister Venus are three-time gold medalists as a team but lost an Olympic doubles match for the first time, beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.
All eight men’s doubles quarter-final matches will be played, while in women’s doubles, the remaining five second round matches will be contested. But the Olympics are important to him.
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German second seed Angelique Kerber, who defeated Serena to win the Australian Open in January, hit back from 2-5 down in the second set to defeat Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-3, 7-5.
