Rafael Nadal moves closer to Olympics history with another impressive Carlos Alcaraz doubles win
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz continued their bid to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics after they produced a strong display to progress to the men’s doubles quarter-finals.
The Spanish dream team prevailed 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-2 against the Dutch duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof in the second round at the 2024 Games on Roland Garros’ Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
Nadal and Alcaraz earned the only break of the match en route to winning the opening set, before losing a tight second set in a tiebreak.
The pair then delivered a scintillating display in the match tiebreak as they closed out the contest in emphatic fashion.
The Spaniards, who had not played doubles together before the Games, will take on Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram — the fourth seeds — in the last eight.
Nadal is aiming to become the first man to win two Olympic gold medals in men’s doubles in the Open Era, having triumphed with partner Marc Lopez at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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The 38-year-old tennis great, who claimed a gold medal in singles at the 2008 Beijing Games, is the only man to win both the Olympic singles and doubles events in the Open Era.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion lost in straight sets to his great rival Novak Djokovic in the second round of the singles tournament in Paris.
Alcaraz, who is the current world No 3, is competing in his first Olympic Games and is chasing medals in both singles and doubles.
The 21-year-old will play world No 66 Roman Safiullin in the third round of the singles on Wednesday, after he defeated Griekspoor 6-1, 7-6(3) in the second round.
Following Djokovic’s victory over Nadal, Alcaraz gave his thoughts on the one-sided contest and recognised the challenge of facing the great Serbian when in top form.
“When Djokovic is playing at this level it’s really, really difficult to play against him,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said in his press conference after his second round singles triumph.
“He was really aggressive, made no mistakes, moving very, very well. I saw Rafa playing let’s say not his best tennis for sure. But when Djokovic is like this, he was the better one.”
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