Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Broady bows out in third round
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Liam Broady’s dream run at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics came to an end in the third round after he was edged out by France’s Jeremy Chardy 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-1.
The Brit, a late call-up for the men’s singles at the Olympics, was the lowest-ranked player in the tournament and had reached the third round after a heroic display against number seven seed Hubert Hurkacz - who reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon earlier this month.
In another enthralling encounter Broady was forced to fight back to level terms in the first set after seeing his serve broken in the fifth game.
Chardy had the chance to serve for the first set, but Broady dug in to break back and then forced a tie-break two games later.
Broady was the first to give away points on serve in the breaker and Chardy went up another mini-break to give himself set point – which he took advantage of to bring an end to a gruelling first set which lasted over an hour.
The second set proved equally as taxing with the pair sharing early breaks, but just as the match passed the two-hour mark Broady edged ahead with a second break.
A game later he once again showed his fighting spirit as he saved three break points before going on to claim the set and force a decider.
With temperatures soaring above 30 degrees Celsius in Tokyo the pair took a lengthy break, and it was Chardy who kept his cool when play resumed – breaking Broady before going 3-0 up.
Chardy took complete control when breaking again, and having sealed victory the 34-year-old now faces Alexander Zverev next for a place in the semis, with the German recording a 6-4 7-6 (7-5) victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili.
