The Spaniard, who defeated World No. 2 Medvedev earlier in Tokyo, survived a thriller against the Serbian to clinch the bronze on Saturday.
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Spanish tennis player Pablo Carreno Busta stunned top-seed Novak Djokovic to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. The sixth seed, who defeated World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev on the way to the bronze medal match, won his Saturday encounter 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. The Spaniard played aggressively against Djokovic the entire match, striking the ball with great power on his groundstrokes. He did miss out on a match point at 6/5 in the second set tie-break. But, the 30-year-old raised his level in the third set to seal the victory in two hours and 49 minutes to get his hands on the bronze medal.
Pablo Carreno Busta, who was making his debut at the Games in Tokyo, rounded off a perfect week with an Olympic medal. He came into the event brimming with confidence after capturing his first ATP 500 trophy at the Hamburg European Open earlier this month. In April, the Spaniard had also clinched the AnyTech365 Andalucia Open title in Marbella on home soil.
What a reaction to a famous moment.
?? @pablocarreno91 beat the World No. 1 & 2 on his way to the #Tokyo2020 men’s singles bronze medal ?#Olympics #Tennis pic.twitter.com/uCDQ4FLHI7
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 31, 2021
Earlier, Carreno Busta had to show resilience in a high-quality first set. The Spaniard saved three break points across his opening two service games. He then took full advantage of Djokovic’s low first-serve percentage of just 44 per cent in the first set to seal the opening set. Carreno Busta’s power and precision on his backhand play helped him massively in the first set.
The second set was a closely fought affair. With both players strong on serve, it moved to a tie-break. Djokovic used his years of experience to fend off one match point at 5/6 before leveling when Carreno Busta fired a forehand wide. Undeterred by the disappointment of losing the set in a heart-breaking fashion, the Spaniard came back stronger in the decider. Carreno Busta stormed into a 3-0 lead. The Spaniard hit seven winners in the decider, taking his sixth match point to seal the win.
After Djokovic’s historic ‘Golden Slam’ attempt came to a sad ending on Friday with a defeat against Alexander Zverev, the 34-year-old struggled to find his best form against Carreno Busta. The Serbian had won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He will aim to capture a fourth US Open title in September and become the second male player behind Rod Laver in 1969 to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam.
On Friday, Novak Djokovic was unexpectedly beaten 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 by fifth-ranked Zverev. The Serbian, who has already clinched his ninth Australian Open crown in February and a second Roland Garros title last month, has a good chance of claiming the calendar-year Grand Slam, with only US Open left.
At the start of the Olympics, Novak Djokovic also kept alive the opportunity to become the first man to ever complete a Golden Grand Slam. However, that quest is now over following his semifinal defeat. “I feel so terrible right now, can’t be positive right now,” said Djokovic on Friday.
“It’s just sport, you know, he played better. I got to give him credit for turning the match around,” Djokovic said of Zverev. “He served extremely well, I was not getting too many looks on the second serve. My serve just drastically dropped, I didn’t get any free points from 3-2 up in the second. Yeah, my game fell apart, his game – he won, I think seven or eight games in a row and yeah, that was it.”
