Nadal keeps Olympic flame burning

PARIS:

Rafael Nadal kept alive his dream of a third Olympic gold on Tuesday, powering into the men’s doubles quarter-finals alongside teammate Carlos Alcaraz as Andy Murray once again came back from the dead.

A tearful Coco Gauff crashed out of the singles after a heated row with the umpire but women’s top seed Iga Swiatek cruised into the last eight.

In the men’s draw, defending champion Alexander Zverev reached the third round after beating Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in straight sets and was joined in the last 16 by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, playing as a neutral.

With temperatures rocketing into the mid-30s Celsius, officials activated a heat protocol at Roland Garros, allowing a 10-minute break between the second and third sets.

Nadal was back on court alongside Alcaraz in the “Nadalcaraz” dream team just 24 hours after he was dumped out of the singles competition by Novak Djokovic in their 60th contest. The Spanish pair, backed by a vocal crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen, lost the second set but stepped up a gear in the match tie-break to beat Dutch team Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 10-2 in two hours and 22 minutes.

“We had fun because the score was positive in the (match) tie-break,” said Nadal.

“We have been suffering but we are enjoying playing together, we are creating good synergies, good energy, so yeah, we are having fun in general terms.”

The 38-year-old, a 14-time French Open champion, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and has slumped to 161st in the world.

He said after his painful defeat to Djokovic that he would make a decision on his future after the Paris Games, where he still has a chance to add to his singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and doubles triumph in Rio in 2016.

Britain’s Murray, playing in the final tournament of his career alongside Dan Evans in the doubles, saved match points for the second successive round.

Murray and Evans defeated Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 11-9 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

They saved two match points in the nerve-shredding final-set tie-break, two days after they had saved five match points in their opening-round victory.

Murray said he cried “happy tears” on court after sealing the emotional win.

“Excited that we managed to get through another amazing finish,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion. “It takes a lot out of you, that sort of stuff. So I’m glad we got a day off tomorrow!”

Earlier, Croatia’s Donna Vekic shocked women’s world number two Gauff 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 but the match was overshadowed by a lengthy row between the US Open champion and the chair umpire.

Gauff, the flag-bearer for the United States at the Olympic opening ceremony alongside NBA star LeBron James, had a long argument with the official at the end of the sixth game of the second set.

At 30-40, Vekic hit a return deep to Gauff’s forehand, which the American mishit into the net.

Vekic’s shot was called out but the call was overruled by the chair umpire and the point was awarded to the Croat, giving her a crucial break. Gauff argued her shot was compromised by the initial call.

“I have to advocate for myself all the time,” a weeping Gauff, 20, said on court. “I’m getting cheated in this game. You guys are not fair to me.”

Vekic, the world number 21, briefly lost her composure, slipping to 0-40 on her own serve before recovering to hold, and she broke again.

Swiatek won her 24th straight match on the clay courts of Paris against China’s Wang Xiyu 6-3, 6-4 and will face America’s Danielle Collins next.

There were also wins for three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova and China’s Zheng Qinwen. Nadal keeps Olympic flame burning, Murray back from the brink.