World number one Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the Olympics women’s singles tennis tournament in the opening round on Sunday, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
Barty, the reigning Wimbledon champion, dropped serve twice in each set as 48th-ranked Sorribes Tormo made just five unforced errors to the Australian’s 27 to earn a shock win.
“It’s an amazing feeling, I still can’t believe it,” said Sorribes Tormo, who will go on to face France’s Fiona Ferro in the second round.
“It’s something incredible for me. It’s something that I’ve been dreaming of all my life, being here and even more so beating the world number one. I’m super, super happy.”
While Barty’s bid to become the first Australian singles gold medallist in tennis ended prematurely, she and partner Storm Sanders are through to the second round of the women’s doubles.
Barty could potentially come up against Sorribes Tormo again in the quarter-finals of that competition. Sorribes Tormo and Paula Badosa are in first-round action later on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Britain’s two-time defending champion Andy Murray has withdrawn from the men’s singles at the Tokyo Olympics with a minor thigh strain.
The Scot, who won his opening men’s double match with Joe Salisbury on Saturday, had been due to face Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime on day two.
He has been replaced in the singles draw by Australian Max Purcell.
“I am really disappointed at having to withdraw but the medical staff have advised me against playing in both events,” a statement from Murray read.
“I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the singles and focus on playing doubles with Joe.”
Murray won his first singles gold at London 2012 and retained his title in Rio four years later.
However, the three-time Grand Slam champion has since had major hip surgery and has made a stuttering return to the Tour.
He missed the Australian Open in January after contracting coronavirus but won back-to-back matches at a Slam for the first time in four years at Wimbledon last month.
Murray spoke positively after his victory with Salisbury on the first day of the Games when they beat French second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Hubert.
He and Salisbury will face German pair Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz in the second round.
Additional reporting from AFP and BBC
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