Britain’s Sir Andy Murray and Dan Evans secured their place in the Paris Olympics men’s doubles quarter final after two dramatic victories.
The pair came back from a set and break down in the opening round of the competition against Japan on Sunday, before surviving five match points to win.
Then, last night, they won 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 11-9 against Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen in another thrilling encounter.
It means that the pair are only two wins away from picking up a medal and what would be Murray’s fourth at the Games, with his tally including two golds in 2012 and 2016
In their next match on Thursday 1 August, they will face the winner of Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz v Dutch pair Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer, who face each other today.
Fritz is a rising tennis star, who has had some very impressive performances in major tournaments, including reaching the quarter finals of Wimbledon this year and in 2022, plus reaching his first ATP 1000 semi finals at the Indian Wells Masters in 2021.
Today will be a gruelling day for Fritz, who is 12th in the ATP rankings and the US’ top ranked male tennis star, because he is also due to represent America in a men’s singles and mixed double match.
Paul is another hot prospect, who has gone from strength to strength after winning his first match at a Grand Slam at the Australian Open in 2020.
In 2022,Paul, who is just behind Fritz in the ATP rankings at 13th, reached the Wimbledon fourth round and the Australian Open semis last year, before crashing out of this year’s Wimbledon in the quarter finals.
Robin Haase has won two singles titles – the Austrian Open in 2011 and 2012 – and reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No 33 in July 2012.
He achieved his highest doubles ranking of world No 29 in May 2023.
Haase has also reached the semi-finals of the 2017 Canadian Open, and the third round at the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships in 2011 – his best Grand Slam singles result.
He has represented the Netherlands in the Davis Cup since 2006 and has taken part in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
Rojer is a four-time Grand Slam champion, who has won the 2015 Wimbledon and 2017 US Open doubles.
He also won the 2022 French Open with Marcelo Arévalo in men’s doubles and 2014 French Open mixed doubles alongside Anna-Lena Grönefeld.
His win in the 2022 French Open meant that 42-year-old Rojer became the oldest major men’s doubles champion in the the modern tennis game.
The men’s double’s gold medal match will take place from 7pm on Friday, 2 August.
Murray, who has suffered several injuries over the past years, severely limiting his time on court, announced ahead of the Paris Olympics that he would be retiring after the games – so a win in the doubles would be a perfect end to his glittering career.
The three-time grand slam champion made the announcement on Instagram two days before the games started, saying: “Arrived in Paris for my last ever tennis tournament @Olympics.
“Competing for (Team GB) have been by far the most memorable weeks of my career and I’m extremely proud to get do it one final time!”
Murray pulled out of this year’s Wimbledon singles over surgery he had for a spinal cyst just a week before the tournament began.
A chronic hip injury meant he needed a metal plate inserted into his hip joint in 2019 and since then he has struggled to find the brilliant form which led to him becoming tennis world number one at the end of 2016.
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