The Indians were pitted against seasoned campaigner Stepanek and veteran Hredecka, who virtually toyed with them in the first, winning it 6-1 in just 27 minutes.
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THis was Stepanek’s first Olympic medal while Lucie won her second medal having won one in women’s doubles meet in London.
The subsequent games went with the serve before Bopanna held his serve to win the set and the match.
Dutt got a bronze in the 60 kg freestyle category four years back in London, and looks India’s best bat on the mat to make an encore or even better.
“It was unfortunate that results were not in our favour. We have to do the right thing and recover as soon as possible mentally and physically, probably more mentally than physically, and try and come out there and have another shot at a medal”, she added. We have to recover well and come back by being positive.
Australia’s top-ranked singles female player and Peers, the country’s best men’s doubles player at world No. 18, mounted a strong challenge against the Indian duo, who are one of their country’s medal hopes. It’s going to take some time to get over this.
Ram played a pivotal role in the U.S. victory.
Venus and Ram took their time to settle and find their groove. By the second set the American duo were camping on the baseline while receiving serve and that’s a defensive strategy hardly conducive to penetrative doubles. She started returning a lot better as opposed to the first set. But Williams and Ram made a brilliant comeback in the next set, snatching it away from the Indian pair 2-6. The Indians saved two break points but was ultimately broken to concede a 5-6 lead. The Indians broke Hradecka’s serve in the fourth game to go up 3-1. Garcia trails the Indo-Swiss duo by a little more than 4,100 points but has to defend only 920 ranking points in the coming months – giving her a big chance to overtake the Indo-Swiss duo.
Sania served out the set in the eighth with Bopanna finding a cross court backhand victor, bisecting the two Americans.
The Indians had a shocker of a first set as Radek Stepanek kept attacking the weak first serves, dispatching them easily.
After a 3-3 changeover score in the third set, the Americans took seven straight points to finish off the match and advance to the finals.
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For me, the match was all about Sania’s forehand and Rohan’s serve.
