Well I thought I would do a post covering the Rio 2016 Olympics tennis event, so I will split this into two parts and I will deal with the ladies event first of all. So let's see what happened for the ladies in Rio....
LADIES EVENT
Right to kick off in the ladies event there were of course some withdrawals from the tournament before it began that included Simona Halep, who withdrew due to concerns over the Zika virus in Rio. However that didn't stop alot of the top seeds from playing at the event itself and there were plenty there to compete for the medals.
So start off with the seeds that went out there were some early casualties in the big names that included Agnieszka Radwanska who was beaten by Zheng Saisai of China in straight sets. Venus Williams also went out in the first round to Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium who beat the American in a hard fought three set battle which saw Flipkens eclipse Venus in a tiebreak. Roberta Vinci also suffered an early first round exit as she lost out to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in straight sets. And Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland was beaten early on in the 1st round also as she was taken out by the Chinese player, Zhang Shuai in a tense close three set match.
And lastly of the big upsets or should I say the biggest of all was Serena Williams who in the 3rd round took on, Elena Svitolinam the 15th seed. And the Ukranian player, who had taken out the British player, Heather Watson in the 2nd round, went to claim the win of her career by stunning Serena in straight sets as she claimed a remarkable 6-4, 6-3 victory to see the No.1 seed suffer another surprising defeat.
SEMI FINALS
As for the players that reached the semi finals we had Monica Puig who faced off against Petra Kvitova in a match that had Petra as the favourite given the difference in their rankings. However it was Puig that proved to be the stronger player as after they levelled the match at a set all, Puig stunned the 11th seed, Kvitova and claimed a three set 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory to reach the biggest final of her career, the gold medal match. This was quite a feat from Monica Puig who had guaranteed not only her first Olympic medal but also the first Olympic medal for her nation, Puerto Rico.
As for the semis next match there was Angelique Kerber, who was the highest remaining seed (who had beaten the British No.1, Jo Konta in the quarter finals) who took on Madison Keys for a place in the gold medal final. However, Kerber showed her experience was greater as she won the first with a break before facing a spirited fight from Keys in the 2nd set but in the end, Kerber was too solid for Keys as she broke her opponent again to reach the final with a 6-3, 7-5 win.
BRONZE MEDAL PLAY-OFF
So as with the Olympic tennis format this left the two semi final losers with a chance to compete for the Olympic bronze medal and the play off was between Petra Kvitova and Madison Keys as the two of them fought it out for the 3rd prize. And the match itself was a very competitve one which saw both players split the first two sets that pushed the match into a decider. However in the decider it was Petra that showed the better form as she grabbed a double break to seal her victory over the younger American and with it the bronze medeal with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win.
This was Petra's first Olympic medal and you could see how emotional it was for her when she won it as she went down on her knees and head in hands so she deserves much credit for battling for the win. As for Keys I was a bit disappointed for her that she lost especially given that she was the higher ranked player but her inexperience probably was the telling factor here in the end and sadly she finished in 4th place and empty handed but regardless of that she too has had a great games and no doubt a great experience.
GOLD MEDAL FINAL
And finally there was the gold medal final between Angelique Kerber and Monica Puig and right off Kerber was the hot favourite for this match as she had never lost to Puig in their previous matches and also given her experience in the big matches. But the match proved to be another stunning upset as it was Puig that showed her mettle again as she fought her way past Kerber in a three set battle that saw the Puerto Rican secure her first ever gold medal and also her country's first Olympic medal after a three set 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory.
So this was quite a victory for Monica Puig who thoroughly deserved her win and it was great to see her claim her country's maiden Olympic medal and this surely should give her a big boost to her confidence and her career for the future.
SUM UP
So that's it for the ladies and it was quite a memorable one that saw many upsets and unfortunately for Great Britain with the defeats of Jo Konta and Heather Watson there were medals for the ladies team GB. But with that let's turn our attentions to the men's event....
So I will be back soon with that post.
See you in a bit....
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