PTI
Rio de Janeiro, August 16: Great Britain’s Andy Murray beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a compelling Olympic tennis final Sunday to become the first player to win two men’s singles gold medals.
The World No.2 and his Argentine opponent shared a long hug at the net, with both man trying to hold back the tears, after a punishing, see-sawing, four-hour contest played out in front of a boisterous crowd at the Olympic Tennis Centre here.
Murray’s consistency proved decisive. He was able to wear down Del Potro’s weaker backhand and frequently drew the fatigued Argentine into the net with deftly placed drop shots as the contest wore on.
Del Potro served for the fourth set at 5-4 but Murray broke the Argentine in consecutive games to claim the match, his 18th straight victory following his second Wimbledon title in July.
The 29-year-old Scot, winner of three Grand Slams, called the Rio encounter ‘one of the hardest matches I’ve had to play for a big title’.
“There were so many ups and downs in the match… this has been much harder than London,” he told reporters in reference to his gold medal win four years ago.
Del Potro had blown open the tournament by beating top seed Novak Djokovic in the first round and then edged Rafa Nadal in a three-hour semifinal contest but the exploits had left him exhausted. Against Murray, he said he was dizzy and felt close to passing out.
“I left the last of my toenails on the court,” said Del Potro, whose ranking has slipped to 141 after a series of wrist injuries over the past six years. “I was tremendously tired. It was the crowd that made me keep running.”
The bronze went to Japan’s Kei Nishikori who beat Nadal 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3.