Novak Djokovic is just three wins away from a gold medal in men’s singles, the fourth of five milestones required to achieve the Golden Slam. On Thursday, he faces Kei Nishikori, the 2016 Rio bronze medalist who has now reached the quarterfinals or better at the last three Olympics. Will Kei be able to disrupt Novak’s quest for history at his home country’s Olympic Games?
Along with the other three men’s singles quarterfinals, Thursday’s play includes the women’s singles semifinals, which should be extremely compelling. They feature four players with quite contrasting styles. In doubles, the men’s and women’s semifinals will be played, as well as the mixed doubles quarterfinals, which include both the male and female world No.1’s in singles.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing men’s and women’s matchup, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule. Thursday’s play gets underway at 3:00pm local time, four hours later than the previous five days in order to avoid the hottest part of the day.
Belinda Bencic (9) [SUI] vs. Elena Rybakina (15) [KAZ] – 3:00pm on Centre Court
On Wednesday, Bencic defeated Rybakina’s recent doubles partner, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in three sets. That’s Belinda’s second straight victory over this year’s French Open finalists, following another three-set win over Barbora Krejcikova. Rybakina has not required three sets in any of her first four rounds, winning all eight sets she’s contested. In the quarterfinals, she comfortably dismissed two-time Major champion Garbine Muguruza. And impressively, she’s only been broken twice thus far. This will be the first career meeting between these top 20 players. Rybakina started off 2020 very strongly, with a record of 21-5, but it wasn’t until recently she rediscovered her form, after the pandemic layoff interrupted her progress. Elena’s power provides her with the ability to dictate play against just about anyone, as evidenced by her upset of Serena Williams last month at Roland Garros. If she can maintain her current form, she’s the favorite. But doing so against a player with the guile and tennis IQ of Bencic, and with a spot in the gold medal match on the line, is a tall task. And Bencic is playing with supreme confidence right now, as she’s also in the women’s doubles semifinals with partner Viktorija Golubic. In what has been another highly unpredictable women’s event, I give Belinda the slight edge to reach Saturday’s gold medal match.
Novak Djokovic (1) [SRB] vs. Kei Nishikori [JPN] – Second on Centre Court
Nishikori won two of their first three meetings, but this rivalry has been all Djokovic ever since. Novak has claimed their last 15 encounters. Kei’s last victory came in the 2014 US Open semifinals, and Djokovic has punished Nishikori since that disappointment. The weather on that day in New York was extremely hot and humid, similar to the conditions for this event in Tokyo. Kei needs to focus on that, rather than their completely lopsided head-to-head. Nishikori will certainly be motivated by playing in his home country, but will surely miss having fans inside the stadium. And no one in the sport displays more passion for representing their country than Djokovic. The Serbian is a significant favorite to reach the semifinals of men’s singles at the Olympics for the third time.
Other Notable Matches on Thursday:
Laura Siegemund and Kevin Krawietz [GER] vs. Nina Stojanovic and Novak Djokovic [SRB] – Djokovic will be pulling double duty for the second consecutive day, as he and Stojanovic are two wins away from guaranteeing themselves a medal in mixed doubles. But in the quarterfinals, they face two accomplished doubles players from Germany.
Elina Svitolina (3) [UKR] vs. Marketa Vondrousova [CZE] – This is the other women’s singles semifinal. Svitolina is 3-1 against Vondrousova, and 2-0 on hard courts. Though in their most recent matchup, last September in Rome, Marketa prevailed 6-3, 6-0.
Karen Khachanov (12) [ROC] vs. Ugo Humbert (14) [FRA] – Both players upset top 10 seeds on Wednesday: Khachanov took out Diego Schwartzman, while Humert ousted Stefanos Tsitsipas. This is another first-time matchup.
Daniil Medvedev (2) [ROC] vs. Pablo Carreno Busta (6) [ESP] – What will Medvedev have left after a grueling, dramatic three-setter in the heat of the day on Wednesday with Fabio Fognini? He’s 3-1 against Carreno Busta, including a three-set win just last month in Mallorca.
Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas (2) [GRE] vs. Ash Barty and John Peers [AUS] – Barty, Tsistipas, and Sakkari all experienced tremendous disappointment in singles, and are looking for redemption in the mixed event. Barty and Peers are the far more experienced doubles players.
Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova (1) [CZE] vs. Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina [ROC] – The Czech team scarcely survived a challenge from Ash Barty and Storm Sanders on Wednesday, as the Russians dropped only three games in their quarterfinal. Earlier this month at Wimbledon, Kudermetova and Vesnina upset Krejcikova and Siniakova 9-7 in the third.
Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.
