Overcoming the heat: Medvedev, Karatsev and Pavlyuchenkova started with confident victories at the Games in Tokyo

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won the first ticket to the second round of the Olympic tournament. She went to the third court of Ariake Park at 11 am local time, and after 67 minutes she went to rest. Sara Errani fought desperately in most games, played five breaks on her own serve and even converted one on the reception, but this was only enough to not lose dry. The finalist of the past "Roland Garros" won with a score of 6: 0, 6: 1 and got the opportunity to continue the fight for the gold of the Games. The next obstacle on her way will be German Anna-Lena Friedsam.

But for all the seeming lightness, the match with Errani turned out to be not at all easy for Pavlyuchenkova. And the reason for this is not the strength of the opponent, but the weather conditions, which left a serious imprint on the performance of the Russian tennis player. With the score 4: 1 in the second game, she was close to repeating the fate of Svetlana Gomboeva, who had passed out the day before at the end of the archery competition. Anastasia suffered a heat stroke and was forced to use the services of medical personnel. Subsequently, she explained that the health problems began a little earlier, which, perhaps, was the reason for the lost game on the serve.

“I was leading with a margin, but in the second set I didn't feel well when the score was 3: 0. From the heat, even at some point, breathing problems appeared. I wanted to finish the match as soon as possible, which is also dangerous, to force the game. It's good that everything ended in my favor ... It was hot in Rio, but bearable. And here the humidity is unrealistic and the temperature is over 30 ° C. I still have a headache, and the veins in my temples are swollen. The doctors said to lie down, rest your legs up and endure, ”RIA Novosti quoted Pavlyuchenkova as saying.

Daniil Medvedev also had to suffer in the 30-degree heat.

The leader of the Russian national team ended up on the court a little later Pavlyuchenkova, as he was forced to wait for the end of the meeting between Iga Sviontek and Mona Bartel.

And not to say that it did him good.

In the course of the match, the Russian demonstrated with all his might how difficult it is for him to perform in such an environment.

To reduce the risk of sunstroke, he went to court wearing a cap, which he rarely does.

And during the break, he applied ice to his head, and sometimes even took off his T-shirt to freshen up a little.

“I think there will still be seizures, and doctors on the courts, and heat strokes.

In tennis, we are used to fighting, roughly speaking, whoever is unlucky before will lose, someone will get heatstroke.

I hope they won't be Russians, ”Medvedev admitted at a press conference.

Apparently, Alexander Bublik was more adapted to playing in the heat. If in their previous match on hard the Kazakhstani managed to win only four games in total (6: 4, 6: 0), this time he took the same amount only for the first set. True, this can be easily explained by Daniel's decision to save energy. He made a break already in the first game, after which he confidently held his serve, losing only three rallies on it.

The second set turned out to be more intense. Medvedev immediately made a break, but subsequently took a game at the reception to zero. Bagel continued to act actively and almost took the opponent's serve again, but he was able to recoup twice at a key moment. As a result, it came to a tie-break, where Daniel turned out to be luckier. He easily secured a four-point lead, but just gave it away. The denouement came when the score was 8: 8, when Alexander's nerves could not stand it. The Russian punished the Kazakhstani for a double mistake and put an end to the duel - 6: 4, 7: 6 (10: 8). In the second round, he will face off against the 160th racket of the world Sumit Nagal from India.

Aslan Karatsev did not experience any problems either, who broke the resistance of Tommy Paul in two sets. The 11th seed was great on his own serve, as evidenced by 75% of successful draws, and also took someone else's three times - more than enough to beat the 54th racket in the world. The semblance of a struggle arose only in the final game, when the American not only played four match points, but also earned the only break point. But the class of the Russian still turned out to be higher - 6: 3, 6: 2.

In turn, in the men's doubles, the representation of the national team was reduced already on the first day.

Sixth seeded Andrei Rublev and Karen Khachanov lost to Francis Tiafoe and Rajiv Ram.

Two sets ended in a tie-break - in the first the Russians were stronger, and in the second they almost bounced back from the score 0: 5 - unforced errors and a stable serve of experienced Ram affected.

In the final game, Rublev and Khachanov reduced the number of inaccuracies to a minimum and even earned a matchball first, but did not use their chance.

At the key moment, Tiafoe and Ram acted more calmly, and their success was brought by a more stable serve - 12:10.

Elena Vesnina took the first step towards the second Olympic gold in doubles.

At the Games in Rio de Janeiro, she played in tandem with her long-term partner, Ekaterina Makarova, at the beginning of the year she tried to create a team with Vera Zvonareva, but came to Tokyo with Veronica Kudermetova.

And while this choice can be called justified.

In the first round, the Russians, albeit not without difficulty, won the same Anna-Lena Friedsam with Laura Siegemund.

In the first set, the Russians completely surpassed the German women, as the numbers speak most eloquently.

They did not give up a single rally on the first ball (12 of 12), and they themselves took seven of eight points on the second serve of their opponents.

Given that Friedsam and Siegemund did not always hit the square right away, this was a key factor.

In the second game, the Germans got together and almost made it to the tie-break. Not without the help of Russians, who in some places made too many inaccuracies. In total, they made 24 mistakes, five of which were unforced. But in the 11th game Vesnina and Kudermetova still took the serve of their rivals and made their way to the second round - 6: 2, 7: 5. There they can meet with the third seeded in the person of the Belgians Kiki Bertens and Demi Schürs. True, for this they need to defeat Caroline Garcia and Christina Mladenovic.