Serena ousted; Murray, Nadal in cruise control

RIO DE JANEIRO: Serena Williams’ hopes of a fifth Olympic gold medal were crushed by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Tuesday as the battle for the women’s title in

RIO DE JANEIRO: Serena Williams’ hopes of a fifth Olympic gold medal were crushed by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Tuesday as the battle for the women’s title in Rio was blown wide open.

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Top seed and defending champion Williams was clearly struggling with a right shoulder injury as she was stunned 6-4, 6-3 by Svitolina, 13 years her junior.

“The better player won,” said Williams, who served up eight double faults, including five in one game in the second set. She also hit 37 unforced errors.

“It was a great opportunity. It didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, but at least I was able to make it to Rio. That was one of my goals.”

Defeat for the 34-year-old means that the Rio tournament has lost both its No 1 before the quarterfinals after Novak Djokovic went out in the first round.

Only three of the top 10 seeds have made it to the last-eight of the women’s draw.

The Rio Games — and possibly her Olympic career — are now over for Serena after she and sister Venus were deposed as doubles champions in the first round. Williams was joined at the exit on Tuesday by third seed and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, who lost to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.

Svitolina, 21, will face twotime Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova for a place in the semi-finals.

However, there were no such problems for defending men’s champion Andy Murray and 2008 winner Rafael Nadal who coasted into the third round in straight sets.

Second seed Murray raced into the last 16, blitzing Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-1. Nadal, the third seed, was equally ruthless, claiming a seventh win in eight clashes against Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3.

Murray will face Fabio Fognini of Italy for a quarterfinal spot. Fognini saved two match points to defeat Benoit Paire 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).

Nadal, like Murray looking to become the first player to win two singles golds, faces France’s Gilles Simon.

CANCELLARA POCKETS TIME-TRIAL GOLD

Fabian Cancellara ensured his retirement at the end of the year would be golden by reclaiming the Olympic cycling time-trial title in Rio on Wednesday.

The Beijing 2008 champion, who could finish only seventh in London four years ago after being affected by a crash in the road race, was totally dominant as he beat Tom Dumoulin into second with Tour de France champion Chris Froome back in third.

He completed the 54.5km route in a time of 1hr 12min 15.42sec, to beat Dumoulin by 47sec, with Froome, who also won bronze in London, more than a minute behind.

KOREA’S JIN WITH THIRD STRAIGHT GOLD

South Korea’s Jin Jong-oh shot his way back from near elimination to win the men’s 50 metre pistol event on Wednesday and become the first shooter in Olympic history to win a specific event at three Games in a row.

With a steadier hand in the final rounds, Jin prevailed over Vietnam’s Xuan Vinh Hoang, a 41-year-old who made history on Saturday by winning his country’s first-ever gold medal, in the 10 metre air pistol.

Kim Song Guk of North Korea, 30, won the bronze.