Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray found easy wins in the second round of the Olympic Games, while twelfth seed David Ferrer suffered a heartbreaking loss to Evgeny Donskoy.
Spanish fifth seed Rafael Nadal, who is playing his first tournament since May, eliminated Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3, by hitting 18 winners and holding all his service games. In the third round he will face Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 7-6(3) 6-2.
Defending champion Andy Murray also won easily against Argentinian Juan Monaco 6-3 6-1 in one hour and nine minutes of play. Murray won more than the 50% of points on Monaco’s first serve and was broken only once.
“I played pretty well, hit the ball good from the back of the court, I didn’t make many unforced errors. It was a good match,” Murray said after his win.
Another player who advanced into the third round is American Steve Johnson, after knocking out Portuguese player Gastao Elias 6-3, 6-4, without facing a break point. He will play Russian Evgeny Donskoy, who came back from a set and a break down to upset Spaniard twelfth seed David Ferrer 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-5. It was a heartbreaking loss for Ferrer, who fell to capitalise 9 of 12 break points and missed two match points on 5-4 in the third. The Spaniard has admitted that Rio could be his last Olympic Games before he retires from the sport.
“In important moments he played more aggressively than me,” Ferrer said.
Finally, David Goffin has successfully continued his bid to become the first man from his country to win an Olympic medal in Tennis. The eighth seed dismissed Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, in just 71 minutes.
Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro (BRA), Round 2:
R.Nadal (ESP) def A.Seppi (ITA) 6-3 6-3
E.Donskoy (RUS) def D.Ferrer (ESP) 3-6 7-6(1) 7-5
S.Johnson (USA) def G.Elias (POR) 6-3 6-4
G.Simon (FRA) def Y.Sugita (JPN) 7-6(3) 6-2
A.Murray (GBR) def J.Monaco (ARG) 6-3 6-1
