Olympic gold in men’s singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics is all coming down to Andy Murray vs. Juan Martin Del Potro on Sunday. Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal and Kei Nishikori will be squaring off for the final spot on the podium.
Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (2) Andy Murray
Murray and Del Potro will be facing each other for the eighth time in their careers when the collide in the gold-medal match at the Rio Olympics on Sunday. The head-to-head series stands at 5-2 in favor of Murray, who has four of their five previous hard-court encounters. But they have not met since 2013, when Del Potro prevailed 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1 in the Indian Wells quarterfinals. The 27-year-old Argentine has missed much of the last three seasons, which explains why he has not squared off against Murray–and other top players–in so long. It’s safe to say Del Potro’s latest comeback from wrist surgery has reached new heights in Rio, where his amazing run features defeats of Novak Djokovic, Joao Sousa, Taro Daniel, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Rafael Nadal.
The 2009 U.S. Open champion needed three sets against Sousa, Daniel, and Nadal, two tiebreakers against Djokovic, and one ‘breaker against Bautista Agut. Murray’s trek through the draw has come with less fanfare, but it certainly has not been easy. The second-ranked Scot trailed Fabio Fognini 3-0 in the third set during third-round action and one day later trailed Steve Johnson by a break at 4-3 in the decider. Murray also defeated Viktor Troicki and Juan Monaco, and he is coming off a 6-1, 6-4 beatdown of Kei Nishikori. Not only is the second seed more rested than Del Potro, but he can also rely on the experience of having played for–and won–a gold medal in singles (at the 2012 London Olympics).
Pick: Murray in 3
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(3) Rafael Nadal vs. (4) Kei Nishikori
Nadal finally lost in Rio de Janeiro. Despite having missed more than two months of this summer because of a wrist injury that knocked him out of the French Open, the Spaniard captured doubles gold with Marc Lopez and reached the semifinals in singles. But Nadal put his 9-0 overall record to the test on Saturday afternoon and lost a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(5) thriller to Del Potro. He is still battling for a medal, however, thanks to victories over Federico Delbonis, Andreas Seppi, and Gilles Simon, and Thomaz Bellucci that carried him into the semifinals.
Up next for the third seed is an 11th career showdown against Nishikori, who is a horrendous 1-9 in the head-to-head series. Nadal has won two in a row at Nishikori’s expense this season since falling to the Japanese star right around this time last year at the Rogers Cup. Like the other three remaining participants in this event, Nishikori has flirted with disaster at times. He trailed Gael Monfils 6-3 in the final-set tiebreaker on Friday before winning the last five points of the match to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The world No. 7 preceded that result by getting the best of Albert Ramos-Vinolas, John Millman, and Andrej Martin. Nishikori looked like he was on his last legs during a disappointing performance against Murray in the semis, and he will need a resurgence in energy even against a presumably fatigued Nadal.
Pick: Nadal in 3
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Does anyone else also feel that with a day-off between SF’s & F, Muzz’s chances of gold would have been seriously jeopardised?
of course yes. Even now, this one is going so tight.
Best of 3 and I would still have given Delpo the green light.
But this ain’t.
Best of 5 and reluctantly have to tilt to Muzz to get it done.
I am back home and back watching this match. Good for him being up a break in the second set. He’s battling.
Now 0-30 on Murray’s serve.
Murray absorbing those powerful forehands from Delpo, getting him to make the error.
Murray fights off a set point and holds.
Wow! Delpo wins the second set! Hope is alive! He’s really cracking that forehand.
3rd set point cmon! You can do it Delpo
And yes he does! 1-1
What this man can do with his forehand… it is terrifying
Literally vaporizing the ball!
Biggest heart in the game. He is dead beat and still fighting.
WOW! Just WOW!!
I don’t know how Delpo is managing to do it. The guy has single handedly lit up the whole event.
Win or lose man, you have made tennis community really proud!!
Delpo is such a smooth volley-er! His net game is better than Djokovic’s… He is now a well-rounded player. His backhand slice is effective and has added new dimensions to his game. He is better than the USO 2009 Delpo in terms of capabilities and weapons.
He always was a well rounded tennis players.
Good movement, good defending, good net play. And to top it all, good temperament.
Rather, he hardly serves the way players with his height do.
So unlucky, that his injury occurred just when he started playing top draw tennis. Lost his peak years to injury.
He would have made this Big4 into Big5.
I thought Murray would win in 3 sets. I was wrong. Delpo is not quitting! He has really brought the goods this week. He is playing with conviction and belief. He seems to get energy from somewhere.
He’s also playing smart tennis. He knows what he needs to do.
Murray gets the break and he is pumped!
How Delpo is even summoning the guts for such FH’s is beyond disbelief!
This match is just insane in proving me wrong!
Each time I think that this is over and Delpo has nothing left in his gas tank, he raises his level 🙂
#godelpo
Delpo got a break (again) and can’t hold/Andy breaks (again) OUCH!
??
And now he holds to love with four forehand winners!
Amazement continues
Delpo has got almost as big a heart as our Rafa!
Anyone else, except Rafa, would give up by now. Delpo plays like he may never get another chance. Dogged, persistent. Andy has to be tired of that ****** Delpo forehand by now. LOL…another break.
Well it’s 1:30 AM in my country but thanks to this fantastic match I’m not feeling sleepy at all!
#godelpo
Unbelievable. And his heart is bigger than Rafa.
+1
-100
? here we go… they held serve. Delpo did. Andy did. Come on serve it out please, Juan Martin…let’s go five …might as well. Cancel Cincinnati, call in sick.
15-40 and Delpo comes with such an amazing shot!
Anyway, Murray’s defending level is insane right now. This guy gets to every single ball!
Andy’s defending is insane. And he’s the stronger one —
Delpo has amazing stretch, reach. And luck error from Andy. Duece.
OH ****! dang. Advantage Andy. That was a killer rally.
By the way, maybe the olympics are not as important as Slams and Masters 1000 but Del Potro vs Djokovic, Del Potro vs Nadal and this one are quite possibly the best tennis matches played in 2016!
yeah, indeed manwerty. I’m not exactly all that excited about Olympics but these athletes — Novak, Delpo, Andy, Rafa, gosh sakes, Monica Puig….Olympics means the world to them.
Arrgh….. ??
What a forehand to open this game! If it wasn’t for the injuries, this guy would have been amongst the best of all time!
If not for his congenital foot deformity, Rafa would have been the undisputed greatest of all time. His foot almost ended his career. But with special shoes he could play but like the little mermaid he had to pay a heavy price. He was/is always playing through immense pain and putting his knee, hips and back under severe strain causing him serious injuries. But for his mental strength he could never have won as many slams as he has. Any other athlete would have probably retired long ago.
Cmon what’s with that line judge?