Olympic Men's Tennis 2016: Tuesday Round-of-32 Results, Scores and Reaction

Following the shocking first-round elimination of top seed Novak Djokovic, play continued in men's singles tennis Tuesday at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, with several of the world's best players in action.

Even with Djoker out of the picture, there was plenty of star power in Brazil, as both Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal looked to continue their marches toward a second career Olympic gold medal in singles action.

Here is a rundown of all of the second-round men's singles results from Day 4 at the Summer Games, along with a recap of how they came to pass.

Men's Singles Results

Winning Player	Losing Player	Score
Gilles Simon (FRA)	Yuichi Sugita (JPN)	7-6 (3), 6-2
Evgeny Donskoy (RUS)	David Ferrer (ESP)	3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5
Andy Murray (GBR)	Juan Monaco (ARG)	6-3, 6-1
Steve Johnson (USA)	Gastao Elias (POR)	6-3, 6-4
Rafael Nadal (ESP)	Andreas Seppi (ITA)	6-3, 6-3
David Goffin (BEL)	Dudi Sela (ISR)	6-3, 6-3
Fabio Fognini (ITA)	Benoit Paire (FRA)	4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)	Pablo Cuevas (URU)	6-2, 4-6, 6-3

Recap

France's Gilles Simon was the first player to stamp his ticket into the third round, as he overcame a gritty performance from Japan's Yuichi Sugita, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

The Japanese underdog pushed the former Australian Open and Wimbledon quarterfinalist to a tiebreak in the first set, but it was smooth sailing for Simon after he won that, and he dominated the second set.

By virtue of that victory, Simon set the stage for a clash with 2008 Olympic gold medalist Nadal in the third round.

While Simon was expected to advance, that wasn't the case for Russia's Evgeny Donskoy, who upended David Ferrer of Spain in an exciting, three-set affair, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5.

The 26-year-old Donskoy has never advanced past the third round at a Grand Slam, and Tuesday's victory was arguably the biggest of his career.

Ferrer is a former French Open finalist, but as pointed out by Tumaini Carayol of Eurosport, his time as a top singles player may be winding down:

The 34-year-old veteran has suffered through a difficult 2016, falling short of the quarterfinals at both the French Open and Wimbledon, but Tuesday's loss may have been the biggest disappointment to date.

Had he prevailed, Ferrer would have had a solid shot to meet Murray in the quarters.

Murray's remarkable form continued Tuesday, as he ousted Argentina's Juan Monaco in straight sets, and it took him just over an hour to do so.

With Djokovic out of the draw, Jake Davis of Last Word on Sports suggested that the Brit may very well be the man to beat:

That is difficult to argue with considering he is the reigning Wimbledon champion and Olympic gold medalist in men's singles.

He has no Djokovic or Roger Federer to contend with, and if his showing against Monaco was any indication, it will take a gargantuan effort to knock him from his perch.

Steve Johnson entered Tuesday as the last American medal hope in men's singles, and he continued his impressive run by steamrolling Portugal's Gastao Elias in straight sets.

With neither John Isner nor Sam Querrey playing for Team USA, Johnson was the clear lead dog for the United States ahead of Rio.

He has proven worthy of that distinction thus far, and he will be favored to defeat Donskoy in the third round before a possible quarterfinal clash with Murray.

Although Murray is the favorite in Rio, it is entirely possible that Nadal will be the biggest obstacle standing between him and a second consecutive gold.

Rafa looked great again in his second-round match Tuesday, as he breezed past Italian Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3.

Nadal is in the opposite half of the draw from Murray, which means a finals matchup between the two future Hall of Famers could be on the horizon.

The Spaniard is playing his first tennis since coming back from an injury, though, and Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated seemed to question if his big workload at the Olympics could come back to bite him:

There is no doubt that the 2008 singles gold medalist is hoping to land plenty of hardware in Brazil, but fatigue could potentially become a problem.

It hasn't set in yet, though, and if he continues to play the way he did against Seppi, another Olympic medal is very much within reach.

If fatigue does become a problem for Nadal, though, Belgium's David Goffin could be the biggest beneficiary after he easily defeated Dudi Sela of Israel in straight sets Tuesday.

Goffin will be favored to reach the quarterfinal where a meeting with Rafa may await. If the jam-packed schedule takes a toll on Nadal, Goffin certainly has the tools needed to take advantage.

He is a strong dark-horse candidate to make it into a medal match, but there is plenty of work to be done before that can happen.

Elsewhere, Italy’s Fabio Fognini defeated France’s Benoit Paire in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Fognini dropped the first set but battled back and outlasted Fognini in a lengthy match that included a third set that lasted 67 minutes, per NBCOlympics.com. Fognini earned the victory, but Paire was more impressive with the serve with 10 aces compared to Fognini’s three. Paire also won 74 percent of his first-service points, while Fognini captured 63 percent of his, per NBCOlympics.com.

However, Paire committed 44 unforced errors, which proved to be too much to overcome in the back-and-forth battle that went to a tiebreaker in the third and final set.

Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci also needed three sets in his match, as he beat Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Bellucci appeared well on his way to an easy victory on home soil with a dominant first set but struggled to maintain that momentum in the second. To his credit, he quickly bounced back and controlled that final set thanks to solid effectiveness with the first serve. According to NBCOlympics.com, Bellucci won 72 percent of his first-service points, which helped him overcome 38 unforced errors.

Cuevas committed 37 unforced errors in what proved to be a sloppy match at times.

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