July 28, 2021 - Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić thus join Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig in the Olympic doubles semifinals!

Croatia's Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić won a spot in the semifinals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo with a victory against Japan's Nishikori and McLachlan 6:3, 6:3.

"It feels good, we played a really good match. Honestly, I expected it to be harder. Nishikori is a great player in singles and McLachlan great in doubles. It was a lot harder for us the day before yesterday against the Italians. Today we served well and saved some key break points that broke the match. We are overjoyed and look forward to the semi-finals," Pavić began in a statement after the match.

Their next opponents are team USA's Tennys Sandgren and Austin Krajicek, who beat Germany's Struff and Zverev 6:3, 7:6 in the quarterfinals.

"I have already lost to the Americans. It will be difficult, it is the semifinals, so we can't expect anything else," Mektić commented briefly.

Pavić is pleased that they have become accustomed to the conditions in Tokyo.

"It's playing more and more, the ball is more on the court, it's not all over with service and returns. We've gotten used to the conditions and I hope we continue to play like this."

"There is no fatigue, the stakes are too high to think about fatigue," Mektić added.

Along with Pavić and Mektić, Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig also reached the semifinals. 

"The Croatian public and journalists write everything, it could be read that the way to gold is open for us, that in principle no one plays at the Olympics except us, which is a total absurdity. We can see it in the results and difficult matches between us and Čilić and Dodig; I don't know if people are aware of what this result is for us and for them. We were the only ones to have two representatives in the quarterfinals and now in the semifinals. It's fascinating. We all want a Croatian final and that would be a wonderful story, but we have another difficult match," said Pavić, and Mektić agreed:

"We are not modest, but realistic. Doubles are a game where several balls decide. The scoring system is very open and equalizes things. As phenomenal as our form and results are, we have won a lot of matches on just one or two balls. We are aware that we have to play our best tennis to win."

Croatia has thus confirmed at least one medal in tennis doubles!

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July 27, 2021 - Čilić and Dodig are in the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, while Donna Vekić was knocked out in the 3rd round. 

Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig advanced to the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, beating Americans Rajeev Ram and Frances Tiafoe 6:3, 7:5 in an hour and 31 minutes of play.

Marin Čilić and Ivan Dodig repeated their best Olympic result achieved in London in 2012 when they were defeated in the quarterfinals by Spain's David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez.

"Marin is top-notch in these two matches, and it's much easier for me and I really enjoy it. Now it's just a question of how much we will play, stronger opponents are coming," Dodig said. 

"I feel good in doubles, the training with Ivan helped me a lot in those few days before the start. Now I have done it individually and acclimatized. Ivan's brother and my schoolmate helped us a lot with advice. Another great match today, Ram is a top player in doubles, Ivan knows him and he knew how to recognize several situations in the match that brought us key points."

For the semifinals, they will fight against Great Britan's Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury, who immediately knocked out second-placed French team Herbert and Mahut in the first round. In the second round, they were better than Germany's Krawietz / Puetz 6:2, 7:6 (2).

Mektić and Pavić's opponents in the quarterfinals are Japan's McLachlan and Nishikori. Mektić and Pavić are the first-seeded players, they are in the top part of the draw and they cannot meet Čilić and Dodig until the final.

After knocking out France's Garcia and third-ranked Belarusian Arina Sabalenka in three sets, Donna Vekić from Osijek was left without a place in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tennis tournament in Tokyo, where she was defeated by Kazakhstan's Jelena Ribakina 7-6 in the 3rd round (3), 6-4 after 101 minutes of play. 

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