As we enter the fourth day of the Olympic men’s singles competition in men’s tennis, there is only one Australian male player left. That happens to be Alexei Popyrin of Sydney.
Popyrin delivered a first round upset on Sunday as he knocked out the 16th seed, Nicolas Jarry of Chile, 6-3, 7-6. Jarry, who was Chile’s flag bearer in the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, is a clay court specialist. He reached the final of the 2024 Italian Open before losing to Alexander Zverev of Germany, 6-2, 6-3. Jarry has also won three ATP events in his career, all on clay (the 2019 Swedish Open, the 2023 Chile Open, and the 2023 Geneva Open).
Next up for Popyrin in the second round is Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland. Wawrinka is a three-time grand slam champion as he won the Australian Open in 2014, the French Open in 2015, and the United States Open in 2016. Popyrin won their only matchup head-to-head, and it was memorable. That is because it came in the final of the 2023 Croatian Open, which Popyrin won 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
In men’s doubles, Matthew Ebden of Perth and John Peers of Melbourne are in round two. In round one, they beat Hady Habib of Benjamin Hasan of Lebanon 7-6, 6-2. They will next face the Spanish duo of Pablo Carreno Busta and Marcel Granollers.
In mixed doubles, Australia is represented by Ellen Perez of Shellharbour and Ebden. In the first round, Perez and Ebden, the second seeds, defeated Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4.
In women’s doubles, the Australian pair of Olivia Gadecki of Gold Coast and Ajla Tomljanovic of Brisbane still have to play their first round match. Their opponents are Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider of the Individual Neutral Athletes.
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