By Richard Pagliaro | @TennisNow | Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal beat Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-2 to keep their medal dreams alive at the Paris Olympics.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Major achievement hasn’t diminished Carlos Alcaraz’s main mission.
Reigning Roland Garros champion Alcaraz said winning an Olympic medal alongside his tennis hero, Rafael Nadal, is his top priority.
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The Spanish superstars stopped Dutchmen Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof 6-4, 6-7(2), 10-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen charging into the Paris Olympic doubles quarterfinals.
Nadalcaraz medal dreams remain alive.
Before a raucous crowd that was chanting and cheering throughout, four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz and 22-time major title holder Nadal accelerated through the decisive tiebreaker.
The Spanish side won nine of the first 10 points of the match-deciding super tiebreaker before closing on their second match point.
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This victory vaults Alcaraz and Nadal into a quarterfinal clash against Americans Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
The fourth-seeded Americans defeated Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro and Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-4, 7-6(3).
A day after Nadal dropped 10 of the first 11 games falling out of Olympic singles in a 6-1, 6-4 loss to rival Novak Djokovic, the king of clay looked eager and excited to be back on the doubles court.
Midway through the opening set, Nadal dropped to the seat of his shorts while blocking a self-preservation forehand volley winner as he fell.
Even when he was down, Nadal found ways to impact the match.
Playing the deuce court, Nadal was running around the backhand and spinning his forehand down the line. A dipping forehand down the line from Nadal earned Spain break point on Koolhof’s serve.
Switching sides with his partner to track down a Koolhof lob, Alcaraz zapped a rocket forehand crosscourt as Spain broke for 4-3.
Nadal knifed a high backhand volley to erase a break point, eventually holding as Spain confirmed the break for 5-3.
Alcaraz served out the opening set at 15, staking Spain to a one-set lead.
In the seventh and eight games of the second set, each side had break points but could not convert. Griekspoor and Koolhof saved a break point to hold for 6-5 before Spain force the second-set tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker turned on a superb play from Koolhof, who ran down a Nadal lob, spun and smacked an over-the-shoulder lob that cleared Nadal’s head and landed on the sideline.
That brilliant improvisation gave The Netherlands a 4-1 tiebreaker lead before Koolhof cracked a smash to close the second set and force the 10-point match tiebreaker.
On the full stretch, Nadal hit a lunging forehand return winner to stake Spain to a 3-0 lead and spark its dominant finish.
A leaping Alcaraz threw down a smash for 6-1 then fired a forehand giving Spain multiple match points at 9-1.