Murray/Salisbury Upset Herbert/Mahut In Tokyo
Great Britain's Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury earned the first upset of the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday when they ousted Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, the second seeds, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 15 minutes.
This is the unseeded duo's first time competing together, and they did not face a break point against Herbert and Mahut, who as a team have lifted the trophy at all four majors. Murray and Salisbury won 42 per cent of their receiving points en route to the second round.
Murray is a two-time singles gold medalist in the Olympics (London, Rio de Janeiro), and he also won the silver medal in mixed doubles alongside Laura Robson in London in 2012.
Top-seeded Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic moved into the second round with a 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over Brazilians Marcelo Demoliner and Marcelo Melo. The pair has won eight tour-level titles this year — including triumphs at Wimbledon and three ATP Masters 1000 events — and became the first team to qualify for the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals earlier this month..
Eighth-seeded Dutchmen Wesley Koolhof and Jean-Julien Rojer also advanced as they eliminated Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6(5), while Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz began their campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Argentines Facundo Bagnis and Diego Schwartzman.
British pair Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski saved one match point as they battled back to defeat Argentine duo Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos 6-7(3), 6-4, 13-11. German tandem Jan-Lennard Struff and Alexander Zverev reached the second round with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory over Hubert Hurkacz and Lukasz Kubot.