Rafael Nadal made a successful debut in Olympic singles yesterday, overcoming numerous missed chances by sweeping the final four games to beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Top-seeded Roger Federer had an easier time. He began a bid for his first Olympic medal by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2, then received congratulations from one of the spectators, US basketball star LeBron James.
Venus and Serena Williams also advanced to the second round, as did Novak Djokovic, the biggest threat to prevent a Nadal-Federer final.
Nadal played doubles but not singles at the Athens Olympics in 2004. He’s playing both at Beijing, staying in the athletes’ village and hoping to sustain a summer surge that has assured him of the No. 1 ranking next week.
“I am very happy to be here,” Nadal said. “Just trying to enjoy 100 percent the experience, and later try my best on court.”
Seventh-seeded Venus Williams, playing her first match since winning Wimbledon for the fifth time, beat Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-2. Williams, who swept the gold medals in singles and doubles in 2000, showed no sign of the knee injury that sidelined her in recent weeks.
“I feel really good about the match – not a lot of unforced errors, no service breaks,” Williams said. “I did the right things to come out on top.”
Her sister, seeded fourth, won all four games when her match resumed after an overnight rain interruption, and she beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-3, 6-1.
Like Nadal, Serena Williams was playing her first singles match at the Olympics. She won a gold medal in doubles in 2000 with sister Venus.
“It’s a great thing going out there playing for your country,” Serena said.
She said she skipped Beijing’s opening ceremonies because she goes to bed early, and she decided against staying in the athletes’ village because she likes privacy. Last week, she visited the village, where she was a popular subject for those seeking photos and autographs.
The third-seeded Djokovic beat Robby Ginepri of the United States 6-4, 6-4, and Igor Andreev of Russia defeated Sam Querrey of the United States 6-4, 6-4, leaving James Blake as the only American male to reach the second round of singles.
Later, Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko eliminated Blake and Querrey 6-3, 6-4 in doubles.
Nicolas Massu of Chile opened his bid to repeat as Olympic champion by beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 7-5. But Massu and Fernando Gonzalez, who won the gold medal in doubles at Athens, were beaten by Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka teamed to win their opening doubles match, beating Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-5, 6-1. No. 5 David Ferrer and No. 6 Andy Murray lost in singles.
On the women’s side, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia began her reign as the world’s No. 1 player by beating Zimbabwe’s Cara Black 6-3, 6-3. Jankovic, seeded second in Beijing, supplanted Ana Ivanovic atop the rankings yesterday.
Ivanovic withdrew from the tournament on Sunday because of a thumb injury.
It was a good day for the Chinese women. Li Na delighted the center-court crowd by upsetting third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-4. Also advancing were Zheng Jie, a semifinalist this year at Wimbledon, and Peng Shuai.
No. 13 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland won 6-3, 6-2 over Jill Craybas, who learned only Wednesday she had made the American team.
Seeded second, Nadal is on a roll after beating Federer in the finals at the French Open and Wimbledon. The latter result compounded Federer’s yearlong slump, and regardless of the outcome at Beijing, he’ll be supplanted atop the rankings by Nadal next week.
Federer has won only two tournaments in 2008, and an Olympic gold medal would help him salvage the year after he was shut out of the medal chase at Sydney in 2000 and at Athens in 2004.