Del Potro only had three wins in 14 matches against Djokovic, who has dominated their career head-to-head meetings in the ATP tour.
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But that inconvenience did not shake the Argentine out of his big-hitting stride as he set up a second-round clash with Portugal’s Joao Sousa.
One of these men will be a semifinalist in his portion of the bracket: del Potro, Spain’s 10th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, Japan’s Taro Daniel or Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, who advanced to the third round Monday by eliminating fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-3.
“I am getting better and I am in good shape but I don’t know if I am prepared to play six or more matches this week”, said the 27-year-old former US Open champion.
“Delpo was the better player and he deserved to win”.
“It’s very sad and disappointing to go out of the tournament this early but I am glad that a good friend of mine, who has struggled with injuries, has won”.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Novak Djokovic shook his head and placed his palm over welling eyes on his way to the locker room after a first-round Olympic exit, devastated he might never realize his goal of adding a gold in singles to a substantial collection of Grand Slam titles. For the other, a stunning loss that leaves him waiting four more long years for a chance at an Olympic singles gold medal.
In another major surprise of the Olympic tennis tournament, Venus and Serena Williams were upset 6-3, 6-4 in the women’s doubles on Sunday by the Czech team of Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova.
The defeat left Venus, 36, staring at the end of her 16-year, five-Olympics journey.
Serena, 34, was more damning. 7-6 (2) defeat here means that the Olympic singles title elude for at least four more years.
Williams, sporting a patriotic Stars and Stripes hairband on centre court, will next face Alize Cornet, the Frenchwoman who defeated her three times in 2014, including at Wimbledon.
London 2012 victor Andy Murray and 2008 Olympic champion Rafael Nadal breezed through in the men’s singles. He won the second tiebreak 7 (7)-6 (0) to an ecstatic crowd.
However, the Williams sisters and Murray brothers bowed out of the respective women’s and men’s doubles competitions – the former losing their flawless Olympic record in the process.
Nadal, playing his first match in two months, made the second round with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Federico Delbonis of Argentina.
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Apparently, del Potro’s athlete-village block suffered a power outage while he was in the elevator. del Potro’s media representative tweeted this cute picture of the 2009 US Open champion while he sat in the elevator waiting for help.
