Due to heavy rain, only eight matches in singles were played on the first day of the Olympic tennis tournament in Paris, while all unplayed singles matches were postponed to Sunday, so the program of the second day turned out to be as hectic as possible. In the first round, only one of the Russians, Diana Schneider, completed her task of advancing to the second round, but Ekaterina Alexandrova completed her performance in the women’s singles in the French capital.
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In the afternoon, local time, 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva appeared on the courts of Roland Garros. On the night from Friday to Saturday, the young Russian won her first WTA title, winning the tournament in Iasi, after which she flew from Romania to Paris and was the starter at her first Games on Sunday. Her first rival in France was 32-year-old Polish tennis player Magda Linett, who also just won the 250 category tournament, becoming the best in Prague.
The players already met last year in Madrid, and then Mirra celebrated the victory in two sets. In that match, in each of the two matches played, the Russian did not allow her Polish opponent to score more than three games. Now Lynette won the same number of games 15 minutes after the start of the match. The much more experienced Polish player entered the match much better and quickly took the lead in the first set – 3:0.
In the fifth game, Mirra had her first break point, but Magda performed flawlessly in the decisive moments and managed to hold her serve (4:1). The Polish player did not give the Russian any more opportunities to make a reverse break in this set. In the seventh and ninth games, Lynette served at a very high level, winning most of the rallies in one or two strokes, and with them the set 6:3. A lost service game at the beginning of the game proved fatal for the Russian.
Having lost the match, Mirra took a short break and exercised her right to leave the court. However, immediately after the Russian returned to the tennis court, the nature of the game did not change. As in the first set, Andreeva lost the first game of the match on her serve and again immediately lost the initiative. Lynette acted as confidently as possible, actively piling up winning moves and recovering the Russian’s mistakes – 2:0 in her favor.
Mirra’s game was not going well and the young tennis player looked very sad and upset about this situation. The Russian had some nice shots at times, but she was unable to put together a long run. In the fourth game, with the score at 1:2, Mirra was able to take someone else’s serve for the first time in the match, but immediately afterwards she made a mistake herself and the game was tied at zero. Lynette regained the advantage in the game and quickly confirmed the break: 4:2 in her favour.
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In the seventh game, Mirra was on the verge of losing all hope of salvation. Lynette earned a break point and came to the net to finish the match, but Andreeva was able to win back the most important ball with a luxurious sail. The saved serve allowed the Russian to continue to resist, but it was not possible to change the course of the match: 6:3, 6:4 in favor of Linette.
In the second round, Magda will play against one of the main favourites of the Olympic tournament, Italian Yasmine Paolini, who has been in phenomenal form. This year she has already played in the final of two Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and now dreams of an Olympic medal. Mirra now only has to focus on performing in pairs with Schneider and in mixed doubles with Daniil Medvedev.
“Emotionally, Mirra looked a little worse than her opponent. In this case, one day is not enough to recover. Sometimes she played decently. It’s okay, this is invaluable experience for her. Mirra plays in three categories, we’ll see. Maybe this is for the better,” Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation, said at the Championship.
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As for the men’s singles in Paris, he received a mega banner in the second round. A clash between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal was expected immediately after the draw, but there were major concerns about the health of the Spanish champion. Rafael’s main hopes in France lie with his duo with Carlos Alcaraz. The day before, the Spaniards had a successful start in doubles, effectively eliminating the sixth seeds – Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.
At yesterday’s press conference, Rafa expressed his disappointment with the Olympic schedule and hinted that he was considering retiring from the singles event. It should be noted here that Nadal is noticeably less likely to talk about retiring from his career at the end of the current season recently, but who knows if the 14-time Roland Garros champion will be able to return to the main court of his life in the future to perform in singles.
Apparently, it was precisely these thoughts that led Rafael to appear on Philippe Chatrier’s court to fight with Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. In the first set, 38-year-old Nadal fired up on his favorite court, as if he had returned to 2005 (here you can substitute almost any year from the last two decades). Rafa took the first set with a crushing score of 6-1 and then the most difficult test began.
In a tough fight, Fucsovics won the second game, achieving a decisive break in the tenth game 6:4. And at the beginning of the third game came the climax of the match: the Spaniard was down 1:2 and was “burning” for 0:40 on his serve. Fucsovics had the perfect opportunity to get some relief, but Nadal got out of a difficult situation.
With great difficulty, Rafa took his serve, then he himself scored a break and, through his nerves, managed to serve out the match. On the second match point, the Spaniard double-faulted, but after a while, on the third attempt, he achieved a historic victory: 6:1, 4:6, 6:4. Ahead of him is the 60th match of his career with Djokovic, which tennis fans and Novak himself have been waiting for.
“I have done my part, now he has to win his first match. I am looking forward to the match, which could be our last dance on this court,” said Djokovic after yesterday’s victory over Australian Matthew Ebden. Now Nadal has done his part. At the moment, Novak is ahead in head-to-head matches: 30-29. Rafael may not get another chance to equalise the score in this rivalry.
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The Olympic tennis tournament will end on August 4. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
