PARIS — Spain’s raging bulls Rafa Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz blazed into the quarterfinals of the Olympics men’s doubles but a host of women’s singles medal contenders were knocked out as the heat was turned up at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
Once again the dynamic duo received top billing on the schedule and they did not disappoint a fevered crowd as they fought off Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof to claim a 6-4 6-7(2) 10-2 victory.
Earlier, as the mercury soared into the mid-30s Celsius (90s Fahrenheit) leaving spectators and players wilting, the women’s singles was blown apart as second seed Coco Gauff, fourth seed Jasmine Paolini and seventh seed Maria Sakkari all perished.
Women’s top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland stayed on course for gold though with a 6-3 6-4 win against injury-hampered Chinese player Wang Xiyu to reach the quarterfinals.
Defending men’s singles champion Alexander Zverev of Germany stayed cool in the oven-like heat as the third seed kept on track for a repeat of his Tokyo title with a 6-3 7-5 defeat of Czech player Tomas Machac to reach the third round.
There was only one place to be on a tropical evening alongside the Bois de Boulogne though — the claustrophobic Court Suzanne Lenglen for the latest “Nadalcaraz” show.
Up against a former doubles world number one in Koolhof, the Spaniards found themselves involved in a red-dirt dogfight as the Dutch showed scant regard for reputations and threatened to spoil the party by deservedly leveling the match.
But the 38-year-old Mr. Nadal and Mr. Alcaraz, 21, have 26 Grand Slam singles titles between them for a reason, and they caught fire again in the deciding tiebreak, with some electrifying tennis moving them within three wins of a dream gold medal.
The Spaniard plays a third-round singles against Roman Safiullin on Wednesday before joining Nadal to take on Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the doubles.
Ms. Gauff, like Mr. Alcaraz an Olympic debutant, still has medal hopes but not in the singles after her shock exit to Croatia’s 13th seed Donna Vekic.
The American was in tears in the second set when an over-ruled line call saw her slip 4-2 behind and became embroiled in an argument with umpire Jaume Campistol and the tournament supervisor in which she was heard to say “I’m being cheated.” — Reuters
