Olympics: Big three through but Murray crashes in tennis competition

Tuesday, 12 August 2008

BEIJING - Top seeds Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic safely negotiated round one here Monday but Britain's Andy Murray fell victim to the Olympic tennis curse.

Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer was also upset and there was heartbreak for India's Sania Mirza, who retired from the women's singles with a wrist injury.

Federer breezed past powerful Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2 into round two, joining Nadal who was taken the distance by 71st-ranked Italian Potito Starace.

Djokovic followed later 6-4, 6-4 against America's Robby Ginepri in a bumper schedule of 65 matches after thunder storms wiped out most of day one.

The Williams sisters led a clutch of women's seeds into the next round including Russians Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva and Alize Cornet of France, who progressed along with Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova.

Wimbledon semi-finalist Zheng Jie upset 11th seed Agnes Szavay and Peng Shuai also kept the Chinese flag flying by beating Carla Suarez Navarro.

Taiwan's 74th-ranked Lu Yen-Hsun pulled off the giant-killing act of the day when he downed sixth seed Murray 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.

Spanish fifth seed David Ferrer fell to Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in another surprise result.

The Olympics has been a champions' graveyard for the men with no top-five gold-medallist in modern times and a list of winners including Marc Rosset and Nicolas Massu.

Federer, seeded top as the outgoing number one, warned he was gunning to reclaim the top spot after a confidence-boosting performance against Tursunov.

"My goal is to try to get the number one ranking back," he said.

"I need to play well again. I need to win the big matches. That's what I'm looking at at the moment."

Earlier Nadal, who replaces Federer as number one on August 18, was taken the distance before beating the 71st-ranked Starace 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

The French Open and Wimbledon champion broke twice in the first set but was made to sweat when Starace hit back for 2-0 in the second.

But the 27-year-old's inspired form deserted him in the decider as he netted at 2-3 for the initial break and again on Nadal's first match point.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams was not happy about having to complete her 6-3, 6-1 win against Olga Govortsova on Monday after the rain forced an overnight delay.

"I wanted to go to the market today but we have to play so many matches," she said. "It's rough."

Chile's Massu, ranked 125, stayed in the hunt for his second shock singles gold while 10th seed Gilles Simon qualified alongside French team-mates Gael Monfils, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Michael Llodra, who beat 16th seed Radek Stepanek.

Stanislas Wawrinka, Nicolas Keifer and Mikhail Youzhny were the other seeds through along with Argentina's former top-five player David Nalbandian.

Mirza was tearful as she exited the singles competition with a painful right wrist just months after surgery. She will remain in the doubles with partner Sunitha Rao.

"I've been on pain-killers for the last six days. I took four this morning," she said.

"It's unfortunate timing, it's very bad but there's nothing I can do."

Mirza was just the latest withdrawal after top seed Ana Ivanovic pulled out on Sunday with a painful thumb and 1996 champion Lindsay Davenport ditched the singles with a knee problem.

Newly crowned number one Jelena Jankovic is carrying a calf injury and Russian star Maria Sharapova, Amelie Mauresmo and Tatiana Golovin pulled out before the Games began.

Croatia's chances have been hit by the withdrawals of Ivan Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic and Mario Ancic.

But International Tennis Federation president Francesco Ricci Bitti dismissed fears players were not serious about the Olympics, which are followed by the US Open on August 25.

"I think it shows how important the Olympics have become to our sport when players of the calibre of Ana Ivanovic and Ivan Ljubicic travelled all the way to Beijing in the hope of being fit enough to compete for their countries," he said.