Nadal retains Olympic flame burning, Murray again from the brink 

Spain’s Rafael Nadal enjoying with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz reacts whereas enjoying Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor and Netherlands’ Wesley Koolhof throughout their males’s doubles second spherical tennis match on Court docket Suzanne-Lenglen on the Roland-Garros Stadium through the Paris 2024 Olympic Video games, in Paris on July 30, 2024. (AFP)

PARIS –Rafael Nadal stored alive his dream of a 3rd Olympic gold on Tuesday, powering into the males’s doubles quarter-finals alongside teammate Carlos Alcaraz as Andy Murray as soon as once more got here again from the useless.

A tearful Coco Gauff crashed out of the singles after a heated row with the umpire however ladies’s high seed Iga Swiatek cruised into the final eight.

Within the males’s draw, defending champion Alexander Zverev reached the third spherical after beating Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in straight units and was joined within the final 16 by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, enjoying as a impartial.

With temperatures rocketing into the mid-30s Celsius, officers activated a warmth protocol at Roland Garros, permitting a 10-minute break between the second and third units.

Nadal was again on courtroom alongside Alcaraz within the “Nadalcaraz” dream crew simply 24 hours after he was dumped out of the singles competitors by Novak Djokovic of their sixtieth contest.

The Spanish pair, backed by a vocal crowd on Court docket Suzanne Lenglen, misplaced the second set however stepped up a gear within the match tie-break to beat Dutch crew Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 10-2 in two hours and 22 minutes.

“We had enjoyable as a result of the rating was constructive within the (match) tie-break,” mentioned Nadal.

“We have now been struggling however we’re having fun with enjoying collectively, we’re creating good synergies, good power, so yeah, we’re having enjoyable usually phrases.”

The 38-year-old, a 14-time French Open champion, has been tormented by accidents lately and has slumped to 161st on the earth.

He mentioned after his painful defeat to Djokovic that he would decide on his future after the Paris Video games, the place he nonetheless has an opportunity so as to add to his singles gold on the 2008 Beijing Video games and doubles triumph in Rio in 2016.

Murray magic 

Britain’s Murray, enjoying within the ultimate match of his profession alongside Dan Evans within the doubles, saved match factors for the second successive spherical.

Murray and Evans defeated Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 11-9 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

They saved two match factors within the nerve-shredding final-set tie-break, two days after that they had saved 5 match factors of their opening-round victory.

Murray mentioned he cried “pleased tears” on courtroom after sealing the emotional win.

“Excited that we managed to get by means of one other superb end,” mentioned the three-time Grand Slam champion. “It takes lots out of you, that form of stuff. So I’m glad we bought a time without work tomorrow!”

Earlier, Croatia’s Donna Vekic shocked ladies’s world quantity two Gauff 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 however the match was overshadowed by a prolonged row between the US Open champion and the chair umpire.

Gauff, the flag-bearer for the US on the Olympic opening ceremony alongside NBA star LeBron James, had a protracted argument with the official on the finish of the sixth sport of the second set. 

At 30-40, Vekic hit a return deep to Gauff’s forehand, which the American mishit into the web. 

Vekic’s shot was known as out however the name was overruled by the chair umpire and the purpose was awarded to the Croat, giving her a vital break. Gauff argued her shot was compromised by the preliminary name.

“I’ve to advocate for myself on a regular basis,” a weeping Gauff, 20, mentioned on courtroom. “I’m getting cheated on this sport. You guys should not honest to me.”

Vekic, the world quantity 21, briefly misplaced her composure, slipping to 0-40 on her personal serve earlier than recovering to carry, and he or she broke once more.

Swiatek received her twenty fourth straight match on the clay courts of Paris in opposition to China’s Wang Xiyu 6-3, 6-4 and can face America’s Danielle Collins subsequent.

There have been additionally wins for three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova and China’s Zheng Qinwen.