Zverev to play for gold after Djokovic upset
July 30, 2021
German tennis star Alexander Zverev is set to play for the gold medal in men's singles after shocking Novak Djokovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.
The upset ended Djokovic's bid for a Golden Slam — winning all four tennis Grand Slams and an Olympic gold in the same year. The Serbian superstar has so far won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon tennis tournaments in 2021.
Yet Djokovic will now have to make do with a bronze medal, at best. He'll face Carreno Busta in the podium-place playoff this Saturday. Despite having won a joint-record 20 Grand Slams in his career, Djokovic has never won an Olympic medal. His fourth place finish at London 2012 is his best effort so far.
Zverev, meanwhile, becomes the first German to reach an Olympic tennis final since the 2000 Games, where Tommy Haas lost to Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov. The 24-year-old will face Russian 12th seed Karen Khachanov on Sunday.
Gold medals
In the first athletics final of the Olympics, Ethiopia's Selemon Barega won the men's 10,000-meter. The 21-year-old held off world champion Joshua Cheptegei and Ugandan compatriot Jacob Kiplimo to claim the gold.
In the pool, Tatjana Schoenmaker was overjoyed after becoming the first South African woman to win an Olympic swimming gold in 25 years as she obliterated the eight-year-old world record in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:18.95.
Having needed crowdfunding to make it to the Olympics, Great Britain's BMX cyclist Bethany Shriever went on to win gold without losing a single race. Niek Kimmann of the Netherlands had earlier taken gold in the men's discipline.
The first gold medal of the day went to Greece's Stefanos Ntouskos, who won the men's single sculls final with a new Olympic best time of 6:40.45.
Germany update
Dimitrij Ovtcharov won bronze in men's singles table tennis draw, beating Taiwan's Lin Yun Ju of 4-3 in the third-place match. It was Ovtcharov's fifth Olympic medal in his career and his second bronze in singles.
In rowing, the men's eight missed out on gold as they added to their silver medals from Rio 2016. After three World Championship titles in a row, the German Rowing Association's flagship boat lost to New Zealand in the final with Great Britain in third.
Led by two-goal scorer Lisa Altenburg, the women's field hockey team made it four wins out of four in the group stages courtesy of a commanding 4-1 victory against South Africa.
The men's handball team looked dominant in their win over Norway to pick up a crucial win in group stage play. Uwe Gensheimer netted all six of his attempts to lead German scorers and veteran goalkeeper Johannes Vitter made 10 saves in the contest. A win over Brazil on Sunday would punch their ticket into the quarterfinals.
Hannes Aigner sealed bronze for Germany in the men's canoe slalom (K-1). His time of 97.11 seconds was just enough to seal a medal ahead of Austria's Felix Oschmautz, who crossed the line in 98.79 seconds.
More news from Tokyo 2020
Coronavirus cases continue to rise after a new daily high was registered on Friday with 27 positive cases at the Olympics, increasing the total figure for the Tokyo Games to 220. There had been 24 new infections the previous day. The positive cases again include three athletes, but the names of those affected have not been published by the organizers. It's the most positive cases registered in a single day since recording began on July 1.
American swimmer Ryan Murphy voiced concerns about doping following the victory of Russian Evgeny Rylov in the 200-meter backstroke on Friday, saying: "I'm swimming in a race that's probably not clean." Murphy had to settle for silver after being beaten for a second time this week by the 24-year-old Rylov, who also took Murphy's 100-meter backstroke Olympic title on Tuesday. The American later clarified his comments, saying he was focusing on doping in swimming in general.
Tokyo Olympic Digest: Thursday 29 July
jt,em/dv (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)