Rio de Janeiro – The biggest shock of the opening day of the Olympic Tennis Event at Rio 2016 came towards the end, when Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens upset four-time Olympic gold medallist Venus Williams 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) in a marathon match on Centre Court lasting three hours 13 minutes.
Flipkens, the world No 62, recovered from the loss of the first set and was 5-3 down in the decider, but capitalised on her veteran opponent’s growing weariness in temperatures still in the mid-20s to force a final set tiebreak, which she won 7-5. It was an emotional moment for the Belgian, who fell to the ground in celebration before kissing the Olympic rings inscribed on the court behind the baseline.
The 30-year-old, who missed the last two Olympics through injury, described the victory as: “Top two, next to my win over [Petra] Kvitova at Wimbledon in 2013.” She added: “The Olympics is a tournament you play once every four years; I’ve never played the Olympics before so it was already a dream coming true for me… but then to beat Venus Williams, one of the biggest champions in our history, on Centre Court, gives goose bumps all over the place.”
“I just played point after point, keep focusing, keep believing. I told myself before just go for it 200 percent and enjoy, and this amazing crowd helped me so much to go through this match.” Flipkens plays Lucie Safarova in the second round.
For Venus, who won singles gold at Sydney 2000, there is still the possibility of a medal in doubles, as she and sister Serena take to the court on Monday in defence of the Olympic title they won together at London 2012, having also won gold in Sydney and Beijing.
The highest seed to lose on Saturday was Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, the No. 4 seed falling to world No. 64 Zheng Saisai of China. A disappointed Radwanska put her 6-4 7-5 loss down to a lack of time to prepare. Zheng, whose previous Olympic experience was competing in the inaugural Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games where she won a singles silver medal, moves on to face 19-year-old Daria Kasatkina of Russia in the second round.
It was quite a day for the Chinese, as there was also a giant-killing effort by Zheng’s teammate and world No. 51 Zhang Shuai, who saved three match points in a third-set tiebreak to upset Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky, the No. 12 seed, 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7). Peng Shuai was less lucky however, threatening a comeback against Heather Watson but then losing to the Brit 6-4 6-7 6-3.
Roberta Vinci, the No. 6-seeded Italian, was another first-round casualty, losing to Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. But there was plain sailing for the other women’s seeds in action, as No. 7 Madison Keys, No. 9 Carla Suarez Navarro, No. 14 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No 15 Elina Svitolina and No. 16 Barbora Strycova all advanced to the second round.
The Olympic Tennis Event came close to losing its No. 5 seeds in both the men’s and women’s draws, but France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga managed to avoid Venus Williams’s fate when he got out of trouble earlier in the day against the lesser-known Malek Jaziri. The Tunisian, ranked 59 in the world, served for the match in the second set but Tsonga held firm to tease out a 4-6 7-5 6-3 result.
Tsonga, who won a doubles silver medal with Michael Llodra at London 2012, said, “I was very concerned because I was thinking this may be my last Olympic Games. The next one is in four years and I don’t know if I will play or not, or if I will be able to keep my level at this stage, so I don’t want to go out of this Olympic Games without playing my game, without taking pleasure. Today I was close to doing that, so it was really good for me to win and do better in the next match.”
In the last match to completed on the first day of play, Tsonga’s countryman Gael Monfils joined him in the second round, the No. 6 seed enjoying a comfortable 6-1 6-3 win against Vasek Pospisil of Canada. Also safely through is France’s Gilles Simon, the No. 15 seed.
Kei Nishikori had opened the Centre Court schedule with an easy 6-2 6-4 win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the No. 4 seed saying that conditions at the Olympic Tennis Centre are quite different to at the Toronto tournament, where he was runner-up just over a week ago. “I have to make some adjustments, but I like the ball here, I feel comfortable with it. There are going to be many rallies, because the court is slow, but I have to be patient and mentally strong.”
It was a good day all round for Japan, as Nishikori’s teammates Taro Daniel and Yuichi Sugita were surprise winners later on against Americans Jack Sock, the No. 14 seed, and Brian Baker respectively. And in women’s doubles, Misako Doi and Eri Hozumi stunned No. 2 seeds Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic 6-0 0-6 6-4 to send the fancied French pair out early.
No. 9 seed Marin Cilic made fuss-free progress, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-1 6-4, although he was relieved to have an easy win. “It wasn’t easy to prepare first round on first day, playing singles and doubles and playing Grigor, and I lost to him the last time we played. I felt I just had to prepare mentally. The beginning of the match helped me to relax a bit and be better on the court and I’m on the right track and I just have to push myself till the end.” – African News Agency (ANA)