Nestor, Pospisil advance in men's doubles, Djokovic out
Make quick work of Portugal
By Joe Pack, CBC Sports
Canada's Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil advanced to the quarter-finals of the men's doubles tennis tournament at the Rio Olympic Games Monday with a dominating 6-1, 6-4 victory over Portugal.
Portugal's Gastao Elias and Joao Sousa largely looked overwhelmed in the first set, though they were able to keep pace at times in the second. Portugal did not win their first game until Canada was already up 5-0 in the first set, which Nestor and Pospisil won easily in just 22 minutes.
Nestor and Pospisil looked organized and efficient in their performance, breaking Portugal's serve on three of five opportunities. Canada notched six aces to Portugal's zero and recorded a 75 per cent success rate on second serves.
The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CAN?src=hash">#CAN</a> dream doubles duo of Nestor and Pospisil win, advancing to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tennis?src=hash">#Tennis</a> quarter-finals in Rio <a href="https://t.co/mBkOxtSGYf">https://t.co/mBkOxtSGYf</a>
—@CBCOlympics"I wouldn't say we had a weakness today, we covered all the areas well," Pospisil said. "For sure we raised the intensity from yesterday. Last night's match was really patchy and I think today was just solid from the start to the finish."
The Canadian duo barely survived their first-round match against New Zealand on the weekend, needing a third-set tie-break win to secure the victory. They fought off two match points in the win.
Nestor won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.
Canada will play in the quarter-finals later this week, with the gold-medal match taking place Friday.
Djokovic's Olympics are over
Novak Djokovic and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic lost to third-seeded Brazilian pair Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in their third-round match Monday night.
The loss comes a day after Djokovic was upset in the first round of the singles tournament, ending the 29-year-old's Olympics.
He has one career bronze medal, won in 2008, but the current world No. 1 is still looking for his first Olympic gold.
"I really hope I will have another shot at the medal," said Djokovic after his loss on Monday.
With files from The Canadian Press