It seemed that Monday should have turned out to be quite successful for Russian tennis players, because they all got not the strongest opponents as rivals.
However, in fact, not everyone succeeded in going further.
Women suffered serious losses.
Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Aleksandrova lost their singles matches and left Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova alone.
For men, only Daniil Medvedev came out on the court.
The second racket of the planet met with the Indian Sumit Nagal, who occupies 160th place in the ATP rankings, and was simply obliged to win an easy victory.
This eventually happened.
The domestic athlete, acting in a mode of economy, did not leave the opponent inferior in the class a chance - 6: 2, 6: 1.
It took Medvedev only an hour and six minutes to break the opponent's resistance.
He gave him only three games and did not allow him to make a single break.
In some rallies, Nagal imposed a fight, but in general he was unable to oppose anything to Daniel.
It remains to be glad that he spent relatively little effort to win after a difficult confrontation with Alexander Bublik.
In the third round, the native of Moscow will face off against the 15th seeded Italian Fabio Fognini.
Karen Khachanov and Aslan Karatsev will play their matches on Tuesday.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also won a crushing victory.
And for her, she became the second in a row.
In the first meeting, the Russian skating rink walked through Sara Errani (6: 0, 6: 1).
Despite the score, that match turned out to be not the easiest for an experienced tennis player.
The fact is that in the intense heat in the middle of the second set, she got heatstroke and hardly brought the meeting to the end.
The domestic athlete complained of headaches and breathing problems.
After this, the Muscovite was frankly anxious.
And she herself admitted that she still had not come to her senses.
“I played for 30 minutes in training, squeezed my temples again, dizzy.
Because of this, I was worried, felt insecure, did not know if I could give my best 100% ... I approached both our and the Japanese doctor, they said that there was no magic pill.
You need to keep yourself as cold as possible and drink plenty of water, "R-Sport quotes Pavlyuchenkova.
Luckily for everyone involved, the weather in Tokyo changed on Monday.
The heat receded a little, and even a light breeze blew out.
It was much more comfortable to play in such conditions.
And the experienced Russian woman easily dealt with Anna-Maria Frizdam in just 54 minutes - 6: 1, 6: 1.
She acted in an aggressive, attacking manner and looked confident both on the reception and on the serve.
For the entire match, Anastasia did not allow her opponent to make a single aces or breaks.
Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova made their way further in doubles.
They beat the representatives of the Netherlands Demi Schurs and Kiki Bertens in three sets - 6: 2, 3: 6, 10: 7.
Domestic tennis players confidently started the match and in the first game they literally left their rivals no chance, having made two breaks.
After that, they apparently believed in their success and relaxed.
Competitors, on the contrary, turned up and already quite calmly took the Russians' serve twice.
As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided in the championship tie-break.
In it, Vesnina and Kudermetova initially looked more confident and immediately secured a lead.
It became alarming only when Schurs and Bertens played three points in a row and reduced the gap to a minimum.
But Elena and Veronica nevertheless brought the matter to victory and in the quarterfinals they will measure their strength with the sisters from Ukraine Nadezhda and Lyudmila Kichenok.
But in singles Vesnina, unfortunately, did not cope with Kamila Georgi, who is ranked 61st in the WTA ranking - 3: 6, 1: 6.
The Olympic champion managed to impose a kind of struggle only in the first set, and in the second she lost without a chance - she did not make a single break and made 11 unforced mistakes at once.
But it is difficult to criticize the experienced athlete who returned from the decree only this year, because she already did everything in her power, at the last moment replacing Daria Kasatkina in Tokyo.
Moreover, in the first round, she managed to knock out the strong Latvian Elena Ostapenko.
“Everything that is done is for the best.
I always follow this rule.
Initially, I was not supposed to play here alone.
When I was informed about this, she replied that I would help as much as I could.
Of course, I understood: it's very difficult to perform in three categories.
Did everything to win in singles.
I play for my country and I know that you cannot retreat.
It turned out to be a good workout-warm-up ", - quotes the words of the tennis player" Sport-Express ".
Aleksandrova also finished her performance at the tournament. She could not cope with the semifinalist of Roland Garros Nadia Podorskaya and lost with a score of 1: 6, 3: 6.
In the previous two meetings (in Linz and Miami), Catherine turned out to be stronger than the Argentine, but this time she could not even compete with her.
“Of course, there were chances, it’s a pity that we could not use them.
But I didn't expect such a game from her.
We had met twice before, and Nadia acted in a completely different way than today.
Therefore, there were few chances, she played very actively from all positions.
Perhaps my own serve let me down today, especially the first one, it turned out to be terribly unstable.
It was harder to impose a fight, ”the athlete complained.
Thus, in the women's singles at the Olympic Games, the honor of Russia will continue to be defended only by Pavlyuchenkov.
In the third round, she will face the Spanish Sarah Sorribes-Tormo, who sensationally sent home the best tennis player on the planet Ashley Barty in the first round.