Tennis at Tokyo Olympics 2020: order of play, Tuesday's results and Andy Murray's chances

By Pippa Field

Naomi Osaka conceded the pressure of going for gold at a home Olympics proved "a bit much" after she was shocked in straight sets by Marketa Vondrousova, the world No 42 from the Czech Republic.

The world No 2, competing for the first time in Tokyo after an eight-week break to protect her mental health, was the highest-ranked player left in the women's singles competition after Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty's shock opening-round defeat to Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.

That had further increased the pressure on the 23-year-old's shoulders, who had long been identified as Japan's golden girl at these Games, and who was chosen to light the Olympic flame in Friday's opening ceremony.

But her dreams were dramatically dashed in the third round as an inspired Vondrousova triumphed in straight sets 6-1, 6-4 after an hour and eight minutes.

“I’m disappointed in every loss, but I feel like this one sucks more than the others," said Osaka afterwards.

"I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this. I think it's maybe because I haven't played in the Olympics before and for the first year, it was a bit much.”

Asked if she had been affected by her break from playing - her last appearance was in the first round of the French Open at the end of May - Osaka added: I've taken long breaks before and I've managed to do well. I'm not saying that I did bad right now, but I do know that my expectations were a lot higher. I feel like my attitude wasn't that great because I don't really know how to cope with that pressure, so that's the best that I could have done in this situation.”

Vondrousova, currently ranked 42 in the world but with a career high of 14 from July 2019, broke Osaka in the very first game and then refused to relinquish her stranglehold, becoming the first player to take a set off the Japanese player at these Olympics.

With all 11 outside courts not seeing any action due to the rain brought by tropical storm Nepartak, all eyes were on centre court where an out-of-sorts Osaka needed to rally quickly. The blue hard court should have been her friend, after all she had won 25 out of the last 26 matches she had played on the surface, winning four out of six Grand Slams along the way.

A break of serve followed by a hold to love was a good response for Osaka but the inspired Vondrousova, perhaps with a point to prove having qualified somewhat controversially ahead of the higher-ranked Karolina Muchova to make it onto the loaded Czech team, broke back shortly afterwards to bring matters back on serve.

At 3-3, Osaka had a sniff of another break when Vondrousova chucked in back-to-back double faults but the Czech player somehow managed to recover from 15-40 down to hold, the smile of relief on her face saying everything.

The next two games would also go with serve and so, at 4-5 down, Osaka was serving to stay in the match. A nation held its breath. Two match points against their hero was not what they wanted to see but Osaka dug deep to take the game to deuce.
She even had a chance to hold but her inconsistency - she would make 32 unforced errors overall - struck again, a third match point against her proving too much as her return flew wide of the tramlines.

Asked what went wrong, Osaka concluded: “Everything - if you watch the match then you would probably see. I feel like there’s a lot of things that I counted on that I couldn’t rely on today.”

When does the Olympic tennis take place?

The Tokyo 2020 tennis began on Saturday July 24 and runs until Sunday August 1 at the Ariake Tennis Park. Play will begin at 3am BST from July 24 until July 30 and then for the final three days at 4am BST.

When does Andy Murray play?

A thigh strain forced Murray to withdraw from his Olympics first-round singles match just hours before he was due to go on court, ending his quest for a third successive men’s singles gold. He will now focus on the doubles alongside team-mate Joe Salisbury. In the first round the pair beat second seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut and then saw off the challenge of the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Putz 6-2, 7-6 to reach the third round.

How many Olympic tennis events are there?

Five: the women's singles, men's singles, women's doubles, men's doubles and mixed doubles.

What is the format?

It is a straight knockout format with both singles draws consisting of 64 players. The men's and women's doubles competitions are five rounds, from a total of 32 entrants. The mixed doubles have a total of 16 entrants.

All singles matches are the best of three sets with a traditional first to seven tie-break in every set, including a deciding third set. In doubles, instead of a third set it will be a match tiebreak (the first to 10).

What is the full order of play?

Tuesday's latest results

Men's Singles - round of 32

Stefanos Tsitsipas (3), Greece, def. Frances Tiafoe, United States, 6-3, 6-4.

Diego Schwartzman (8), Argentina, def. Tomas Machac, Czech Republic, 6-4, 7-5.

Jeremy Chardy, France, def. Aslan Karatsev (11), ROC, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

Women's Singles - round of 16

Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic, def. Naomi Osaka (2), Japan, 6-1, 6-4.

Garbine Muguruza (7), Spain, def. Alison van Uytvanck, Belgium, 6-4, 6-1.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (13), ROC, def. Sara Sorribes Tormo, Spain, 6-1, 6-3.

Belinda Bencic (9), Switzerland, def. Barbora Krejcikova (8), Czech Republic, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Men's Doubles - round of 16

Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren, United States, def. Filip Polasek and Lukas Klein, Slovakia, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 10-5.

Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury, Britain, def. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, Germany, 6-2, 7-6 (2).