RIO DE JANEIRO: Juan Martin del Potro stunned a tearful Novak Djokovic in an emotional Olympics triumph on Sunday as Venus Williams pondered the end of her four-gold Games odyssey.
Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion who was pushed to the brink of retirement by a series of wrist injuries, downed the top seed 7-6(4), 7-6(2).
The giant Argentine had also defeated the 12-time major winner in the bronze medal match at the London Olympics in 2012.
Both players embraced at the net and wept at the end of their centre court duel played out in front of a raucous Argentine and Serb crowd.
Meanwhile, four-time gold medallist Venus Williams was staring at the end of her 16-year, five-Olympics journey.
Williams, 36, and sister Serena suffered their first ever defeat in women’s doubles, a record which boasted 15 successive match wins and golds in Sydney in 2000, Beijing in 2008 and London four years ago.
The 6-3, 6-4 loss to Czech pair Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova came just a day after Venus had been knocked out of the singles in what was her first opening round Olympics loss.
{{/usCountry}}The 6-3, 6-4 loss to Czech pair Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova came just a day after Venus had been knocked out of the singles in what was her first opening round Olympics loss.
{{/usCountry}}Venus, a seven-time Grand Slam title winner and the 2000 Olympic champion, said she and Serena will now focus on the US Open later this month. “It was not our best day,” said Venus.
Serena, 34, was more damning. “We played terrible and that basically showed.”