Unheralded Canadian Daniel Nestor stunned a packed crowd at the New South Wales Tennis Centre today by dumping home favourite Pat Rafter out of the Olympic tennis tournament. Nestor, ranked 256th in the world and only playing in the Olympics on a wildcard, beat the double US Open champion 7-5, 7-6 to book a place in the third round.
Rafter, the 13th seed but one of the favourites for gold on his favourite surface, never really got into the match against his lanky opponent. The Canadian squandered a series of break points early in the first set before finally converting one for a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the set. Nestor broke Rafter’s serve twice more to race to a 5-2 lead in the second but the Australian battled back only to lose out in the tiebreak.
The Times
