Rio de Janeiro – The favourites for the gold, silver and bronze medals in men’s and women’s singles will all be in action on the second day at the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
Serena Williams, who is aiming to break the record for the most medals won, will start her singles campaign on Centre Court against Australia’s Daria Gavrilova.
The two players have met just once before and it was the world No 1 who triumphed 6-2 6-1 at Doha in 2013. Undoubtedly Gavrilova is a more complete player now than she was three years ago but it would still be an upset of the highest order if the 2010 Singapore Youth Oympic gold medallist were to knock out London 2012’s defending champion.
Another player looking to maintain his winning run in Olympic singles matches is Great Britain’s Andy Murray, who had the honour of carrying his country’s flag at the Opening Ceremony on Friday.
Murray faces Serbia’s Viktor Troicki on Centre Court in the first round and the Brit has certainly got the better of his opponent in his previous seven encounters.
Rafael Nadal, who is also on an Olympic singles winning streak having won gold in Beijing 2008 and having not competed in London 2012, starts his Rio 2016 title bid with a first round match-up against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis on Court 1.
Nadal, who has been hindered by a wrist injury in recent months was uncertain to compete earlier this week but the Spaniard, another Opening Ceremony flag bearer, has been hitting the ball ferociously in practice.
No 2 seed in women’s singles Angelique Kerber starts her second Olympic Games with a contest against Colombia’s Mariana Duque-Marino.
The Colombian won the only previous encounter between the two players but that was six years ago on clay in Bogota.
Spain’s Garbine Muguruza makes her Olympic debut in singles with a tricky encounter against Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in the first of Sunday’s night matches on Centre Court.
Muguruza, who leads the head-to-head between the players 3-1, defeated Jankovic in Fed Cup by BNP Paribas earlier this year.
The last match on Centre Court is arguably the pick of the first round singles matches in both the men’s and women’s draws as world No 1 Novak Djokovic takes on Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in a rematch of the London 2012 bronze medal match.
Del Potro was the victor that time around so not only will the Serbian be bidding for revenge, but an Olympic singles gold medal is one of the few things that Djokovic cannot lay claim to in his glittering career.
– African News Agency