Reigning men’s singles gold medalist Andy Murray, who is seeded as such at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, found new motivation in a clinical second round match against Argentina’s Juan Monaco. He won 6-3, 6-1
Murray’s adversary, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, crashed out of the singles competition on Saturday night. The path to a second singles gold medal looks a lot clearer for Murray, whose notorious temper only made one appearance at the second round match on Tuesday morning. (He was irritated by a photgrapher’s flashing camera.)
Taking Centre Court around 11:45 AM ET, Murray handily took the first set, 6-3. He set fire to the court in the second set, closing out the set and match 6-1.
The Briton enjoyed similar good fortune at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, where Djokovic – who had won the four previous Grand Slam titles, though not in a calendar year – shockingly fell from grace in the third round. American Sam Querrey stunned the Serb in a two-day, four-set monster match.
That loss enabled Murray to win his third Grand Slam title. Should he win the singles tournament at the Olympic Games, the World No. 2 will earn his third Olympic medal. In addition to singles gold at the London 2012 Games, Murray won silver in mixed doubles alongside compatriot Laura Robson.