In the first round of the women’s Olympic singles in Tokyo, world number one Ashleigh Barty was upset by Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain.
In her 6-4 6-3 loss to 48th-ranked Sorribes Tormo, Australian Barty, who won her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July, cast a furious figure in this Olympics. Sorribes Tormo’s triumph is her most significant to date. Japan’s No. 2 seed Naomi Osaka defeated China’s Saisai Zheng 6-1, 6-4. The highest-ranked player in the draw is Osaka, who lighted the Olympic torch during the opening ceremony.
After reaching the second round of the women’s doubles on the first day, Barty and Storm Sanders will compete in Tokyo. In her match against Sorribes Tormo, she had 55 unforced mistakes compared to the Spaniard’s 13.
“Being here and, more importantly, beating a number one, is something I’ve dreamed about my whole life,” Sorribes Tormo remarked. “It’s an incredible sensation. I still can’t believe what I’m seeing.”
Karolina Pliskova, who was beaten in the Wimbledon final, advanced with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Alize Cornet of France, while Belarusian third seed Aryna Sabalenka defeated Poland’s Magda Linette 6-2 6-1. Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain won her first singles match since overcoming cancer, defeating Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 6-4 6-1.
- More about the Australia’s no.1 tennis player: Ashleigh Barty
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) activated their extreme weather policy after temperatures in Tokyo reached 32 degrees on Sunday. Once the temperature reached 30.1°C, the players were given a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, with change of ends and set breaks also being prolonged by 30 seconds.
During their first-round matches, world number one Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev both complained about the heat. “A lot of the competition schedule has been planned around avoiding the warmest portion of the day,” said Kit McConnell, the International Olympics Committee’s sports director. “However, that is not practicable in every discipline, and on top of that, there are substantial heat measures in place across all training and competition for a number of years.”
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