It was an entertaining day of second round action as the women's tennis event rolled on at the Olympics. Third seed Aryna Sabalenka, sixth seed Iga Swiatek and tenth seed Petra Kvitova were all sent packing.
Second seed Naomi Osaka, fourth seed Elina Svitolina, seventh seed Garbine Muguruza, eighth seed Barbora Krejcikova and ninth seed Belinda Bencic, 13th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 14th seed Maria Sakkari and 15th seed Elena Rybakina all advanced.
Sabalenka was stunned by Donna Vekic with the Croatian winning 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in two hours, 35 minutes. Vekic rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third set to post her eighth career top ten victory.
"It is really good, really satisfying", she said following the match. "Winning 7-6 in the third set is always great. She's playing really good tennis this year so i'm sure this win will give me a lot of confidence."
Swiatek fell to Paula Badosa as the Spaniard claimed a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory while world number 59 Alison Van Uytvanck came from a set down to shock Kvitova 5-7, 6-3, 6-0, winning the final ten games of the match.
"She's a legend in our sport", Van Uytvanck said of the Czech. "She's an absolute great player and it's an honor to share the court with her --- that's what I told her at the net. I think what she's done for women's tennis is incredible.
"I hope that I can maybe some day achieve the same things she has achieved. I'm proud of myself with what I did on court today and the level that I reached."
Osaka blasted through Viktorija Golubic 6-3, 6-2 winning 82 percent of her first serve points and facing only one break point in the
"Honestly, it's a bit interesting", she said of playing for the host nation. "The [Japanese] flag is always next to my name, but the scale here is much bigger. It's something i've been waiting for since Rio."
After winning the longest match of the tournament in the first round, Svitolina came from 6-4, 3-1 down to oust Ajla Tomljanovic before winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"To be fair, I started not bad, 2-0 up, but everything went downhill for me. I was playing really bad, I was a bit slow and didn't feel my game at all. In the end, I was just trying to find my rhythm, move my feet a bit quicker and adjust. I just had to fight and try to find my game".
Pliskova ended the run of Carla Suarez Navarro as the fifth seed prevailed 6-3, 6-7 (0), 6-1. The Czech rallied from 4-1 down in the second set only to be shut out in the tiebreaker before a dominant third set.
Muguruza had no issues in a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Qiang Wang in only 61 minutes. The Spaniard broke Wang, who had won their previous two head-to-head matches, five times.
Krejcikova won for the 22nd time in her last 23 matches after dominating Leylah Fernandez 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes while Bencic eased through against Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-4. Pavlyuchenkova rolled past Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-1, 6-1, winning 53 of 73 points.
Sakkari hit five aces and broke Nina Stojanovic four times in a 6-1, 6-2 victory. Rybakina had no problems against Rebecca Peterson, winning 6-2, 6-3.
In matchups featuring unseeded players, Camila Giorgi cruised by Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-1, Marketa Vondrousova crushed Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-1, 6-2 and Nadia Podoroska blew away Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-1, 6-3.
Doubles results
In second round doubles action, sixth seeds Ashleigh Barty and Storm Sanders bested Xifan Yu and Zhaoxuan Yang 6-4, 6-4, but third seeds Kiki Bertens and Demi Schuurs were eliminated by Veronika Kudermetova and Vesnina 6-2, 3-6, [10-7].
Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiia Kichenok were victorious over Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini 7-6 (4), 6-2 as were Ellen Perez and Samantha Stosur, 7-6 (3), 7-5 winners over Monica Niculescu and Raluca Olaru.