LAST UPDATE | 30 Jul
RAFAEL NADAL KEPT alive his dream of a third Olympic gold on Tuesday, powering into the men’s doubles quarter-finals alongside teammate Carlos Alcaraz after a tearful Coco Gauff crashed out of the singles.
Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek reached the last eight on a sweltering day at Roland Garros while defending men’s champion Alexander Zverev eased through.
With temperatures rocketing into the mid-30s Celsius, officials activated a heat protocol, allowing a 10-minute break between the second and third sets.
Just 24 hours after he was dumped out of the singles competition by long-time rival Novak Djokovic, Nadal was back on court alongside Alcaraz in the “Nadalcaraz” dream team.
The Spanish pair lost the second set but stepped up a gear in the match tie-break to beat Dutch team Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4, 6-7 (2/7), 10-2 in two hours and 22 minutes.
The packed crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen made no secret of their support for the Spanish pair, regularly chanting: “Let’s go Rafa, let’s go”.
Nadal, a 14-time French Open champion, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and has slumped to 161st in the world.
He said after his painful defeat to Djokovic that he would make a decision on his future after the Paris Games.
But the Spaniard, who won singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and doubles gold in Rio in 2016, can still collect a medal after teaming up with French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz.
- Emotional Gauff -
In the first match on Court Philippe Chatrier, Croatia’s Donna Vekic shocked women’s second seed Gauff 7-6 (9/7), 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
But the match was overshadowed by a lengthy row between the US Open champion and the chair umpire.
Gauff, the flag-bearer for the United States at the Olympic opening ceremony alongside NBA star LeBron James, lost the first set and had a lengthy row with the umpire at the end of the sixth game of the second set.
At 30-40, Vekic hit a return deep to Gauff’s forehand, which the American mishit into the net.
Vekic’s shot was called out but the call was overruled by the chair umpire and the point was awarded to the Croat, giving her the break. Gauff argued her shot was compromised by the initial call.
“I have to advocate for myself all the time,” a weeping Gauff, 20, said on court. “I’m getting cheated in this game. You guys are not fair to me.”
Vekic briefly lost her composure, slipping to 0-40 on her own serve before recovering to hold, and she broke again to seal victory.
The world number 21, a Wimbledon semi-finalist earlier this month, said the row over the line call was a “tricky situation”.
“After that, the crowd, it was not so easy,” she said. “I lost my concentration for a couple of points, but I’m happy that I managed to come back in that game because it was an important game.”
Women’s world number one Swiatek won her 24th straight match on the clay courts of Paris against China’s Wang Xiyu and will face America’s Danielle Collins next.
The 23-year-old Pole, who has won the past three French Open titles, triumphed 6-3, 6-4 and is yet to drop a set at the Olympics.
There were also wins for three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova and China’s Zheng Qinwen.
Germany’s Zverev coasted into the third round of the men’s competition with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 39th-ranked Czech Tomas Machac.
Britain’s three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, playing in the final tournament of his career alongside Dan Evans in the doubles, once again came back from the dead as he saved match points for the second successive round.
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 points in the nerve-shredding final-set tie-break, two days after they had saved five match points in their opening-round victory.
Murray said he cried “happy tears” on court after sealing the emotional win.
“Excited that we managed to get through another amazing finish,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion. “It takes a lot out of you, that sort of stuff. So I’m glad we got a day off tomorrow!”
