Daniil Medvedev and Angelique Kerber are eliminated from Olympic tennis

Paris. Russian Daniil Medvedev proved on Wednesday that clay is not his best surface and fell in straight sets to Canadian Felix Auger-Alliassime in the third round of the individual tennis tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Medvedev, the fourth seed, lost the first set 6-3 and although he did more to secure victory in the second, he lost the final 7-6 (7/5) after a tie break that he had commanded at one point, in a match that was suspended for a long time.

It was a bitter day for Russian tennis, because in another match, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz defeated Roman Safiullin 6-4 and 6-2, and also advanced to the quarterfinals of the individual tournament.

The Iberian, third in the Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP) rankings, controlled the match as he wished, with five aces, no double faults and just 16 unforced errors, while his rival did not get a single ace, made four double faults and exceeded thirty unforced errors.

The Russian had a break point opportunity and took it, while second-seeded Alcaraz only needed to convert two of the four he had.

Alcaraz, who also competes in doubles alongside his compatriot Rafael Nadal, will face American Tommy Paul, ranked 13th in the world, in the quarter-finals.

Angelique Kerber is eliminated after losing in her last match as a professional

In the women’s branch of Olympic tennis, the German Angelique Kerber was eliminated this Wednesday after falling in her last match as a professional against the Chinese Qinwen Zheng, who beat her by (4) 6-7, 6-4 and 7-6 (6) in the round of 16, thus ending her career as she announced on July 25 before starting this tournament.

Kerber had previously beaten Japan’s Naomi Osaka, Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, and was in top form in her last competition as a professional. She arrived here ranked world number 212 after becoming a mother 17 months ago and returning to the circuit in January, having been absent since July 1, 2022.

The match started well for the German, who took the first set in a tie-break after being 3-5 down and failing to take advantage of an opportunity to win it at 6-5 and serving. In the second set, a break against her at 4-4 condemned her to the third set.

In the third set of the match, the German was 4-1 ahead, but faltered and everything ended up being decided in the tie-break, which this time went to the Chinese player 8-6, after having saved up to three match points previously.

The winner of an Australian Open, a US Open and a Wimbledon had announced before this Olympic event that she would say goodbye at its conclusion. “I will never forget Paris 2024, because it will be my last professional tournament as a tennis player,” wrote the 36-year-old German in a message on the social network Instagram.

Kerber was world No. 1 in September 2016 and has won 14 career titles, including a WTA Finals final in 2016 and five other WTA 1000 finals, a title that eluded her.

Her last opponent, China’s Zheng, will face in the quarter-finals the Polish Iga Swiatek, current world number 1 and who beat (6-1, 2-6 and 4-1) the American Danielle Collins, who was also playing her last Olympic event until she abandoned this match due to physical discomfort.