Djokovic beats Nadal to keep Olympic dream going
Novak Djokovic outclasses long-time rival Rafael Nadal to win their Olympic second-round match and continue his bid to land an elusive gold medal.
Novak Djokovic outclasses long-time rival Rafael Nadal to win their Olympic second-round match and continue his bid to land an elusive gold medal.
Mattia Bellucci will never forget the past weekend.
It all started in Atlanta, where the 23-year-old qualified for an ATP Tour event for the first time and took advantage by winning his first two tour-level matches and reaching the quarter-finals. That in itself was normal.
Then came his quarter-final Friday evening against Arthur Rinderknech. Due to rain, their clash did not end until nearly 1:30 a.m. local time, when Rinderknech prevailed in three sets. In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Italian knew he had to quickly travel to Washington for his first-round qualifying match at the Mubadala Citi DC Open later that day.
“I said, ‘I’m going to take the earliest flight to go there, and then I’ll try to sleep there’. And the earliest one was at 5:30 a.m,” Bellucci told ATPTour.com. “I basically just went back to my room, I packed and we went directly to the airport, so I didn’t sleep at all. And then we got to Washington around 8 a.m., maybe 8:30.”
Upon his arrival, Bellucci ate breakfast because he had still not eaten. From 9 a.m. until noon, he slept.
“Then I went to the club, I had lunch, and I hit for like 30 minutes, 25 minutes, just to try the conditions, which were completely different from Atlanta, actually,” Bellucci said.
[ATP APP]That did not stop the three-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist, who defeated Tristan Boyer 7-6(6), 6-2.
“My mindset was actually to stay completely on what my attitude was on court, because I knew that physically speaking, I was not feeling great. And also about tennis, I couldn’t ask much [of] myself since… I didn’t sleep during the night. So I really tried to be as focused as I could,” Bellucci said. “But the beginning of the match wasn’t the best actually, yesterday, went a break down at the beginning and then managed to break back.”
Bellucci was not thrilled with how he played, but he tried to mentally remain engaged and to pump himself up with shouts of “Come on!” without losing too much energy.
“Otherwise, I would have fallen asleep, I think,” Bellucci said. “When he went to the bathroom, I was seated for four or five minutes. And I was not feeling great, this was between first and second set. It was definitely crazy.”
Saturday evening, Bellucci tried to rest as much as possible. On Sunday, the Italian was back at it and battled past Leandro Riedi 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) in two hours and 47 minutes to qualify for his first ATP 500 event.
“I’m very, very happy. And about my tennis, I actually feel that, yes, I’m playing good. But these two matches weren’t the best. And also in some matches of last week, I wasn’t completely happy about it, so that’s very, very good [that I’ve been winning],” Bellucci said. “It means that I can improve a lot. And at the same time, I really feel that I have many more solutions than a few weeks ago and a few months ago, mentally speaking. So when I’m in a bad situation, I know how to try to stay focused and how to stay in the match.”
It has been a memorable few days for the 23-year-old, who on Monday reached a career-high No. 125 in the PIF ATP Rankings. He will face American Mackenzie McDonald on Monday in the first round of the Washington main draw.
“I qualified for the first time in ATP event, then won the first time my first match, then first quarter-final, and right now qualified for my first 500 event, so I’m very, very happy,” Bellucci said. “I will obviously try to keep going and embracing it as much as I could.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Jakub Mensik continued his impressive march towards the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF by reaching the semi-finals at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag.
The 18-year-old Czech, currently second in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, earned three consecutive straight-sets wins before he was eventually stopped by Italian Lorenzo Musetti at the ATP 250 clay-court event. Earlier this year, Mensik advanced to the final in Doha. He is currently in action at the Paris Olympics this week.
[ATP APP]PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah
| Player | Points |
| 1) Arthur Fils | 1515 |
| 2) Jakub Mensik | 654 |
| 3) Alex Michelsen | 647 |
| 4) Shang Juncheng | 645 |
| 5) Luca Van Assche | 379 |
| 6) Joao Fonseca | 274 |
| 7) Henrique Rocha | 229 |
| 8) Vilius Gaubas | 195 |
| 9) Gonzalo Bueno | 174 |
| 10) Learner Tien | 173 |
Chinese lefty Shang Juncheng remains well positioned in fourth after reaching his second tour-level semi-final of the year at the Atlanta Open. The 19-year-old came through qualifying, beating Ben Shelton en route at the hard-court tournament.
Earlier in July, PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah leader Arthur Fils captured his maiden ATP 500 crown in Hamburg, while third-placed Alex Michelsen advanced to the final in Newport for the second straight year.
Down in 10th place, 18-year-old American Learner Tien has boosted his hopes of qualifying for the 20-and-under event, due to take place from 18-22 December, after reaching the semi-finals at an ATP Challenger Tour tournament in Chicago. Tien won his maiden Challenger Tour title earlier in July in Bloomfield Hills.
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Rain has delayed the Atlanta Open final for a second time Sunday.
Jordan Thompson and Yoshihito Nishioka were initially delayed with the Australian leading 6-4, 4-5 and just three points into the resumption of play, heavy rain began to fall at the ATP 250, requiring the players to leave the court. Play is scheduled to resume not before 8 p.m. local time.
Thompson, who leads 6-4, 4-5, 30/15, will continue serving when play resumes. The 30-year-old is aiming for his second tour-level title of the season, having also won Los Cabos.
[ATP APP]Should Thompson win, it would mark his first victory against Japan’s Nishioka, who leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 4-0. The Australian would also ascend to a new career-high No. 29 in Monday’s PIF ATP Rankings.
Nishioka, 28, is searching for his third tour-level title and first since 2022 Seoul.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Novak Djokovic will play Rafael Nadal in the most highly anticipated match of the Paris Olympics on Monday afternoon.
The record-extending 60th Lexus ATP Head2Head clash between Djokovic and Nadal will take place second on Court Philippe-Chatrier not before 1:30 p.m. local time, following the women’s singles match between top seed Iga Swiatek and Diane Parry.
This will be Djokovic and Nadal’s first meeting since the 2022 Roland Garros quarter-finals on the same court, where Nadal emerged victorious in four sets. Djokovic leads their legendary rivalry 30-29.
The pair faced off in the semi-finals of the Beijing Olympics, where Nadal triumphed in three sets and ultimately claimed the gold medal. Djokovic won the bronze medal.
In other action Monday, second seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor on Court Philippe-Chatrier starting at 7 p.m. local time. Alcaraz leads their Lexus ATP Head2Head series 2-0.
[ATP APP]Sixth seed Casper Ruud of Norway will play Italian Andrea Vavassori, eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece will take on Briton Daniel Evans and 10th seed Ugo Humbert of home country France will face Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.
The men’s doubles action will continue and mixed doubles will begin. Laura Siegemund and Alexander Zverev, who clinched the United Cup title for Germany this year, will play Czechs Tomas Machac and Katerina Siniakova in a first-round match. Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev will take on Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Watch GB’s Andy Murray and Dan Evans save five match points in a tie-break decider to beat Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori of Japan in the first round of the men’s doubles at Paris 2024.
Andy Murray’s career was as close to being over as possible Sunday evening, but then came one of the early moments of magic of the Paris Olympics.
The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and Daniel Evans of Great Britain saved five consecutive match points from 4/9 in the Match Tie-break before defeating Japan’s Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori 2-6, 7-6(5), 11-9.
“We just tried to play every point at the end. I thought we were done,” Murray said. “Evo came out with some good returns. I had a couple good serves at 6/9 to get us to 8/9. Just unbelievable. I’ve never played a doubles match like that where I’ve saved that many consecutive match points. A special place to do it obviously.”
WHAT A FIGHT 🔥@andy_murray and Dan Evans save 5 match points to win their first round battle in #Paris2024 💢#Olympics #tennis pic.twitter.com/h8PwdRfpgP
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 28, 2024
Daniel and Nishikori were in control for most of the match, leading 6-2, 4-2. But Evans and Murray continued to battle on and ultimately overcame a seemingly insurmountable deficit in the momentum-filled Match Tie-break.
“It’s amazing. I guess at 4/9 I just didn’t want to miss the shot to end his career,” Evans said with a laugh. “It sums him up. It’s amazing. Honestly the best feeling for me to be a part of that. To hit a forehand down-the-line, which he was probably not that happy that he’d gone cross on the last one. Just couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”
[ATP APP]Evans and Murray, who lost in the first round at Roland Garros earlier this year, will next play eighth seeds Arthur Fils/Ugo Humbert or Belgians Sander Gille/Joran Vliegen. Evans had won a three-set singles match earlier in the day.
The Britons also competed together last year in Washington (l. in the quarter-finals) and in the 2017 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells (l. in the Round of 16).
“I think both of us have loved competing for our country over the years. We’ve been a part of the same Davis Cup team for many years. Dan has a huge passion when he’s competing as part of a team. Both of us wanted to do this together for my last tournament,” Murray said. “I’ve loved being part of the Olympics, it’s an amazing event. It’s meant a lot to me over the years and to get to finish playing here one last time in the Olympics is extra special.
”Just glad we live to fight another day because it would’ve been obviously disappointing to lose today. But we keep going, let’s see where we get to.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Watch the moment GB’s Andy Murray and Dan Evans beat Daniel Taro and Kei Nishikori of Japan in the first round of the men’s doubles at Paris 2024.