Rio Olympics 2016: Johanna Konta through but Heather Watson is out

Posted: Aug 08, 2016

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Johanna Konta reached the third round of the women’s singles at the Olympics, but fellow Britons Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund were eliminated in Rio.

World number 13 Konta beat France’s Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-3.

Watson, ranked 66th, struggled against world number 20 Elina Svitolina with the Ukrainian winning 6-3 1-6 6-3.

The two Britons will team up in the women’s doubles later on Monday when they face third seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei.

“I’m grateful to be here and I get to say I’m an Olympian,” Konta, 25, told BBC Radio 5 live.

“I’m here to compete and I’m really enjoying being part of the whole thing.”

Disappointment for Edmund

Britain’s Kyle Edmund went out of the men’s singles with a 6-4 7-5 defeat by Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Daniel, ranked 117 in the world, trailed 0-3 in the first set and 2-5 in the second but recovered to progress to a third-round encounter with Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro or Brazilian Joao Sousa.

“I know what I could have done better,” Edmund said. “I just wasn’t able to quite do it on the court and problem-solve during the match. I am disappointed at the minute but it isn’t the end of the world.”