by Karolos Grohmann
PARIS -Serbia’s top-seeded Novak Djokovic overcame a brief bout of nerves in the second set before beating 14-times French Open champion Rafael Nadal 6-1 6-4 at the Paris Olympics on Monday and moving into the third round.
While Djokovic remains in the hunt for his elusive Olympic gold, Spain’s Nadal now has only the doubles competition left to add to his two Olympic gold medals, partnering Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic, who has won 24 Grand Slam singles titles to Nadal’s 22, left nothing to chance in a flawless display over a set and a half.
The world number two stretched the 38-year-old Spaniard with punishing groundstrokes and perfect drop shots, making him look his age as he raced through the first set and went 4-0 up in the second.
The home crowd were ready for a mouth-watering epic between two of the greatest players to have graced the sport on their record-extending 60th encounter but instead they were being treated to what looked like a fast-track Djokovic win.
Nadal, with his thigh strapped due to a recent injury, was spilling unforced errors across Court Philipp Chatrier, a venue he has dominated like no other player, and lacked precision and consistency.
Early in the second set he had 13 errors, almost three times as many as Djokovic’s five.
Shaking his head in disbelief, and with the crowd sensing the end of an era was fast approaching, Nadal, who has been struggling for form after a string of injuries in recent seasons, seemed on his way to one of the most bruising defeats of his career on his favourite clay surface.
But he was not going to go down without a fight and eventually gave his fans something to shout about.
A Djokovic double fault saw Nadal pull back to 4-2 and that was celebrated like a victory with almost the entire stadium jumping from their seats to cheer him on.
After another two games the Spaniard was level but instead of completing a comeback that looked all but impossible minutes earlier, it was nothing more than a reprieve as 37-year-old Djokovic sealed victory on his first match point with an ace.
