On Wednesday, July 31, the men’s singles third round matches of the tennis tournament for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris were played. Two Russians made it to this stage, and one of them played his second outing on the Suzanne Lenglen court, the second most important stadium of the competition. The world number 66, Roman Safiullin, took the court with the number three in the ATP ranking, Carlos Alcaraz, who had the second favorite.
On the way to the head-to-head, Safiullin and Alcaraz did not concede a set to their opponents. And if something similar was expected from the Spaniard, whose opponents were the little-known Heidi Habib and the strong Dutchman Tallon Grikspor, the Russian gave a pleasant surprise by beating the South Americans Alejandro Tabilo (15) and Thomas Martin Etcheverry.
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After reaching the round of 16, Roman gave an interview to the “Championship”, in which he spoke, in particular, about the upcoming match against Alcaraz. Interestingly, in personal meetings the score was 1-0 in favor of the Russian. Last year he beat the four-time TBS champion at the Paris Masters 6:3, 6:4.
“Most of the balls are flying. I hit what I need to hit, so I’m more or less in a certain zone. But I feel like I’m not in my best form right now. However, such coincidences [как с Этчеверри] you need to take it and win.
“A match with Alcaraz? I didn’t know anything about this until you said it. If Alcaraz is there, I will try to do everything in my power,” said Safiullin in an interview with the Championship.
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Safiullin played the first exchanges well, leading 40-0 on his serve, but suddenly started making mistakes and allowed Alcaraz to get ahead with a break. In the next two games, the Spaniard only gave up one rally and led 3-0 with two breaks. Carlos attacked from time to time: Roman, who often went to the net (in the end, 7 out of 14 for the whole game), could not oppose anything.
In the fourth game, Alcaraz relaxed to the point that Safiullin won the rally to love. However, the second break had to be recovered. The closest Roman came to this was in the eighth game, but then he could only manage 30:30. Carlos, serving for the match in the tenth game, earned a double set point. In the first, the Russian made a competent save, but in the second he had no chance to reflect the opponent’s powerful cross in the opposite direction: 6:4 in favor of Alcaraz in 45 minutes. He outperformed Safiullin both in winning shots (14 to eight) and in unforced errors (seven to 11).
Carlos Alcaraz in a match with Roman Safiullin at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
In the first game of the second set, Safiullin again brought his serve to zero, and after that one could only hope for a miracle. Alcaraz did not take any liberties, no miracle happened. During the second game, the organizers, not without reason for fear of rain, decided to close the roof, but this did not affect the course of the match in any way. In the fifth game, the Spaniard did not take advantage of a double break point, and in the seventh, thanks to his excellent dribbling, he again took his opponent’s serve for 5-2. Serving for the match, Carlos took advantage of the first match point: 6:4, 6:2 in 1 hour and 30 minutes.
This is how Alcaraz made it to the quarter-finals. There he will play against American Tommy Paul. In addition, a little earlier, 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic made it to the quarter-finals. From all previous Olympics, Djokovic brought back only one bronze medal, won in Beijing 2008, so the 37-year-old’s motivation is incredibly high now.
In the third round, Djokovic faced German Dominik Köpfer, who finished in the top 70 of the world rankings. Köpfer did not pose any insurmountable tasks for Novak. In the first set, the Serb was the first to break, in the fourth game. The German made a reverse break, but at the end of the game, in the 12th game, Djokovic took advantage of the first set point on reception: 7:5 in 55 minutes.
Novak Djokovic at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
In the second set, Novak had only one break point, which he converted in the second game – Dominic did not have a single chance to take someone else’s serve. In the ninth game, Djokovic successfully served for the match – 7:5, 6:3 in 55 minutes. And he became the oldest quarter-finalist (37 years 61 days) since the return of tennis to the Olympic programme in 1988, and also the first player in history to reach the quarter-finals of the Games four times. Novak’s opponent in this round will be Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Daniil Medvedev, the last Russian in the men’s singles draw, will also play in the round of 16 today. His opponent is Canadian tennis player Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The Olympic tennis tournament will end on August 4. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
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