PARIS: Rafael Nadal kept his dream of a third Olympic gold alive on Tuesday by storming into the men’s doubles quarter-finals alongside team-mate Carlos Alcaraz as Andy Murray came back from the dead again.
A tearful Coco Gauff crashed out after a heated argument with the umpire, but women’s top seed Iga Swiatek reached the last eight.
In the men’s draw, defending champion Alexander Zverev reached the third round after beating Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic in straight sets and was joined in the round of 16 by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, playing as a neutral.
With temperatures soaring into the mid-30s, officials activated a heat protocol at Roland Garros, allowing a 10-minute break between the second and third sets.
Nadal returned to the court alongside Alcaraz in the “Nadalcaraz” dream team just 24 hours after being knocked out of the singles competition by Novak Djokovic in their 60th match.
The Spanish pair, backed by a vocal courtside crowd of Suzanne Lenglen, dropped the second set but rallied in the match tiebreak to beat the Dutch team of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4, 6-7 ( 2/7) , 10-2 in two hours and 22 minutes.
“We had fun because the score was positive in the tiebreak (match),” Nadal said.
“We suffer but we enjoy playing together, we create good synergies, good energy, so yeah, we have fun in general.”
The 38-year-old, 14-time French Open champion, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and has fallen to 161st in the world.
He said after his heartbreaking loss to Djokovic that he would make a decision on his future after the Paris Games, where he still has a chance to add to his singles gold at the 2008 Beijing Games and doubles triumph in Rio in 2016.
Magic Murray
Britain’s Murray, playing in the final tournament of his career alongside Dan Evans in the doubles, saved match points for the second successive round.
Murray and Evans defeated Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-7 (8/10), 11-9 to advance to the quarter-finals.
They saved two match points in the final set tiebreak, two days after they had saved five points in their first-round win.
Murray said he cried “happy tears” on the court after sealing the emotional win.
“Thrilled to come through with another amazing finish,” said the three-time Grand Slam champion. “It takes a lot, stuff like that. So I’m glad we have the day off tomorrow!”
Earlier, Croatia’s Donna Vekic shocked women’s world number two Gauff 7-6 (9/7), 6-2, but the match was overshadowed by a lengthy row between the US Open champion and the chair umpire.
Gough, the flag bearer for the United States at the Olympic opening ceremony alongside NBA star LeBron James, had a heated argument with the referee at the end of the sixth game of the second set.
At 30-40, Vekic hit a return deep to Gauff’s forehand, which the American missed at the net.
Vekic’s shot was wide, but the call was overturned by the chair umpire and the point was awarded to the Croat, giving her a crucial break. Gough argued that her shot was compromised by the initial call.
“I have to advocate for myself all the time,” a tearful Gauff, 20, told the court. “I’m being cheated in this game. You’re not being fair to me.”
Vekic, the world number 21, briefly lost her cool, slipping to 0-40 on her own serve before recovering to hold, and was broken again.
Swiatek won her 24th straight match on the Paris clay courts against China’s Wang Xiyu 6-3, 6-4 and will next face American Danielle Collins.
There were also wins for three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany, Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova and China’s Zheng Qinwen.
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