Tokyo Olympics: Osaka, Muguruza reach third round

Japan’s Naomi Osaka cruised into the third round of the Tokyo Olympics women’s singles with a 65-minute victory over Viktorija Golubic.
Second seed Osaka, the favourite for the gold medal following Ashleigh Barty’s first-round exit, beat the Swiss 6-3 6-2.


She will face Marketa Vondrousova, who beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-1 6-2, for a quarter-final spot.
World number one Novak Djokovic beat Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien 6-2 6-2.
Serb Djokovic needed only 61 minutes to set up a second-round meeting with Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.


Great Britain’s Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski were knocked out of the men’s doubles in the second round, losing 6-3 6-4 to Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Ben McLachlan.
Osaka took an eight-week break before the Games in order to protect her mental health.
She described making her comeback in the Olympics as being an “interesting” experience.
“The flag is next to my name no matter what tournament I play, but I feel like the scale of this is much bigger,” she told American TV.
“It’s something I’ve been waiting for for eight years.”


There were also speedy victories for Garbine Muguruza and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Spain’s two-time Grand Slam champion Muguruza saw off China’s Wang Qiang 6-3 6-0 in 61 minutes.
French Open runner-up Pavlyuchenkova, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, took only 54 minutes to beat Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-1 6-1.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev advanced in the men’s singles, beating Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan 6-2 6-2.