On Tuesday, Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the third round of the Olympics men’s tennis event, avenging his Wimbledon loss to Frances Tiafoe last month. Under the centre court cover at Ariake Tennis Park, the Greek third seed defeated American Tiafoe 6-3, 6-4, despite morning drizzle delaying all play on the outside courts by an hour.
Tsitsipas, who is also competing in mixed doubles with Maria Sakkari, will face either France’s Ugo Humbert or Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarterfinals. Tsitsipas, who had lost to Tiafoe in the first round of Wimbledon, guaranteed there would be no repeat disappointment by winning in 77 minutes with a single break in each set.
Cool, calm and collected 💯@steftsitsipas avenges his Wimbledon loss, defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-3 6-4 to move into the round of 16 at #Tokyo2020#Tennis | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/u540z4IGZI
— ITF (@ITFTennis) July 27, 2021
Naomi Osaka will face Marketa Vondrousova, the runner-up at the 2019 French Open, later Tuesday as the Japanese star steps up her pursuit for Olympic gold after a strong comeback from an eight-week layoff.
Osaka had not played since withdrawing from the Roland Garros tournament in late May because of concerns over her mental health. She then claimed that she was suffering from despair and anxiety.
Following the early exit of world number one Ashleigh Barty, the second seed has won four of the past six Grand Slams on hard court and is the top contender for the women’s title.