FRESH off a second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, many were expecting world number one and Australian Ash Barty to cruise through her opening match at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. They could not be more wrong, as the top seed was bundled out in a shock loss to rising Spanish talent Sara Sorribes Tormo in straight sets, 6-4 6-3. Barty was one of only three seeds to fall on day two, with 11th seed and reigning US Open semi-finalist Jennifer Brady, and 12th seed former Australian Open semi-finalist Elise Mertens also exiting the tournament in the opening round. The upsets marred an otherwise straightforward day of results to complete the Round of 64, but certainly shook up the draw.

In her win, Sorribes Tormo served at an elite 83 per cent, winning 33 of her 53 first serve points, and 50 per cent of her second serve points. She also broke five times from nine chances, as Barty could only break twice from the same amount of chances. The usually consistent Barty hit a whopping 55 unforced errors to 24 winners, and whilst Sorribes Tormo hit just four winners, only conceded 13 unforced errors during the match to claim the win. Sorribes Tormo said she was overwhelmed with emotion following the win.

“It was incredible I don’t know what to say… I still have goosebumps. It’s amazing,” Sorribes Tormo said. “It’s the best victory in my career, for sure.. “Because of the place, for who she is, because of what the Olympics means to me and because of playing for Spain. “The dream of my life was playing here. I still have the goosebumps [after that]. Winning against the No. 1… I don’t know how to describe it.”

In the other upsets, it was Italian Camila Giorgi who took out Brady in a regulation two-set match 6-3 6-2, while Ekaterina Alexandrova knocked off Mertens in a come-from-behind three-set win, 4-6 6-4 6-4. There were also two retirements on the day, with Kazakhstan duo Yaroslava Shvedova and Yulia Putintseva both coincidentally from the same nation retiring midway through the second set to respective opponents, Australian Ajla Tomljanovic and Argentinian Nadia Podoroska.

The other top seeds had no issues in Round 1 with home nation hero and tournament favourite Naomi Osaka showing no signs of fatigue after lighting the Olympic flame 36 hours earlier, defeating China’s Zheng Saisai 6-1 6-4, while third seed Aryna Sabalenka destroyed Poland’s Magda Linette, 6-2 6-1. Czech duo and seeds, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova both won through in their respective matches against Alize Cornet and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets, whilst Spanish seventh seed Garbine Muguruza had a couple of tough sets before putting Russian Veronika Kudermetova away, 7-5 7-5. In the other seeded match, fourth seed Elina Monfils triumphed in her first match since being married nine days prior, defeating German Laura Siegemund in three sets, 6-3 6-7 6-4.

In other results, Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro made a promising return to the Olympics with a stunning thrashing of in-form Ons Jabeur, 6-4 6-1. Croatian Donna Vekic joined Frenchwoman Fiona Ferro, Russian Elena Vesnina, Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck and Chinese Wang Qiang in advancing to the Round of 32 with first round victories.

OLYMPICS ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:

Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) defeated [1] Ash Barty (AUS) 6-4 6-3
[2] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated Saisai Zheng (CHN) 6-1 6-4
[3] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated Magda Linette (POL) 6-2 6-1
[4] Elina Monfils (UKR) defeated Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-3 6-7 6-4
[5] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-1 6-3
[7] Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 7-5 7-5
[10] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Jasmine Paolini (ITA) 6-4 6-3
Camila Giorgi (ITA) defeated [11] Jennifer Brady (USA) 6-3 6-2
Ekaterina Aleksandrova (RUS) defeated [12] Elise Mertens (BEL) 4-6 6-4 6-4
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) defeated Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) 7-5 3-2 RET
Donna Vekic (CRO) defeated Caroline Garcia (FRA) 6-2 6-7 6-3
Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) defeated ivana Jorovic (CRO) 6-3 6-2
Elena Vesnina (RUS) defeated Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 6-4 6-7 6-4
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) defeated Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-4 6-1
Fiona Ferro (FRA) defeated Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 2-6 6-4 6-2
Qiang Wang (CHN) defeated Veronica Cepede Royg (CRO) 6-4 6-3
Nadia Podoroska (ARG) defeated Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 7-6 1-3 RET

Picture credit: Getty Images