Czech tennis player Markéta Vondroušová in the round of 16 of the Olympic tennis tournament.
Mike Segar, Reuters
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For Osaka, the struggle began as in a nightmare. Vondroušová took her serve right in the introductory gamma, then averted two breakballs and increased it to 4: 0. The four-time Grand Slam winner, who lit the Olympic flame in Tokyo on Friday, often spoiled and sometimes seemed helpless in the court, because the Sokolov native was able to return almost every ball to her.
The ranking difference of 40 places was known only for a moment at the beginning of the second set, when Osaka led 2: 0. However, Vondroušová turned to 3: 2 and embellished her confident performance with several strokes, to which the opponent did not even run. During the third match, the ball fell from the racket of the Japanese favorite into the car and the eight-final match ended after an hour and eight minutes.
Osaka had a two-month break before the Olympic tournament. The last time she played was Roland Garros, from which she resigned after the first round. She announced before the Paris Grand Slam that she would not speak to journalists at press conferences because she wanted to avoid stress, which provoked a number of mostly dissenting reactions. Osaka then decided to withdraw from the tournaments for a while, but in Tokyo she managed the first and second rounds with an overview.
The program of the Olympic tennis tournament was slowed down by rain today. Due to the unfavorable weather, the Ariake complex is played only on the central court under a cloudy roof, other matches, including duels by Barbora Krejčíková and Tomáš Macháč, were soon interrupted.
Karolína Plíšková is waiting for the match in the final round with the Italian Camila Giorgio. At the end of today’s Tokyo program, the doubles duo Krejčíková, Kateřina Siniaková and Plíšková, Vondroušová should also play for the quarterfinals.
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Barbora Krejčíková was supposed to go to the event from 4 am CET. The 25-year-old native of Ivančice is pulling an incredible series of twenty-two victories from the last 23 matches. In the third round of the Olympic tournament, the lottery put her in the way of Belinda Benčičová, who, after a not very successful season, shows herself in the Japanese capital in excellent light when she clearly defeated the American comet of the last year Jessica Pegula in the first round, and then home hope Misaki Doi.
The second Wimbledon finalist Karolína Plíšková will be the second to appear on court number 2, right after her compatriot Krejčíková. She complicated the match of the second round with the Spaniard Carla Suarézová Navarro a bit, with whom she finally had to make three sets. Now a completely different type of player awaits her. Italian beauty Camila Giorgio plays very aggressively and so far she “writes” a lot to her at the Olympics. In the last two matches, she has lost only nine games, and in the opening round she had the American hit Jennifer Brady as a rival.
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Italian tennis player Camila Giorgio in the first round of the Olympic tournament in Tokyo.
Patrick Semansky, ČTK / AP
Tomáš Macháč seized his chance to represent the Czech Republic at a sports holiday. In the first round he showed a valuable turn against the experienced Portuguese Sous, now he will have a bigger bite. World number 13 Diego Schwartzman from Argentina, for whom it has long been the case that he is only an exceptional clay artist. Even on a hard surface, he has gained a decent reputation and few people can be successful with him in long exchanges. However, if the native of Beroun manages to return well and use the Argentinian’s weaker service, then there will be a chance for a good result.
The deblist competition has a second round on the show. Both Czech couples managed their introductory duels to number one and will still be favorites. The lot also looks friendly, but beware, the appearance here can be deceiving. Sara Sorribesová Tormová and Paula Badosaová from Spain are waiting for the number one Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Sniaková. The players from the Iberian Peninsula literally fell in love with Tokyo, both recorded large scalps in singles (Badosa defeated Swiatek, Sorribes then Barty) and found peace in the doubles tournament – in addition, they are both huge fighters. The Czech winners from Roland Garros do not have easy work to do.
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Czech tennis players Karolína Plíšková (left) and Markéta Vondroušová in the match of the 1st round of the women’s Olympics in the women’s doubles.
Piroschka Of The Wouw, Reuters
Karolína Plíšková and Markéta Vondroušová have a pair of paper lighter opponents. The Czech pair, which came together exclusively for the Olympic tournament, will face a Brazilian pair of Laura Pigossi, Luisa Stefani. The quality of individual players is significantly higher on the Czech side, we hope that it will be reflected on court number 1, in the last match in a row.
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