Agency Report
World number two Daniil Medvedev was knocked out of the men’s Olympic tennis competition on Thursday by Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarter-finals.
Russian Medvedev, who was hoping to meet top seed Novak Djokovic in the final, paid for an error-strewn display with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) loss.
Sixth seed Carreno Busta will take on Medvedev’s compatriot Karen Khachanov for a place in the final, after his 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-3 win over Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
According to AFP, Medvedev made 26 unforced errors and hit only 12 winners.
Carreno Busta, who famously knocked Djokovic out of last year’s US Open when the Serb was defeated, is playing in his first Olympics and looking to become only the second Spanish singles gold medallist after Rafael Nadal, in 2008.
Carreno Busta will next face Karen Khachanov after the 12th seed battled past Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 34 minutes. The 25-year-old hit 10 aces to improve to 3-0 in third sets in Tokyo this week.
“I felt well physically, I felt well mentally,” the ROC’s Khachanov told ITFtennis.com. “I came here to fight for medals and I’m playing good tennis so far. I’m happy that I’m managing to find solutions to the problems as they appear – this is tennis. I’m enjoying [it] so far, and I want to keep going like that.”
