Tokyo: Naomi Osaka's hopes of the entire host country rest on her.
Novak Djokovic is trying to achieve something no man has done before in tennis.
Both the players are on track to achieve something special at the Tokyo Olympics and both pulled off assured victories to reach the last 16 at Ariake Tennis Park on Monday.
Osaka crushed winners from both wings - both forehand and backhand - in what appeared to be a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 49th-ranked Viktoria Golubic of Switzerland. Djokovic then defeated Germany's Jan Lenard Struff 6-4, 6-3, ranked 48th.
Despite this being her first tournament after a two-month mental health break, Osaka's strong start is hardly a surprise, given that the Olympic tournament is being played on hard courts - the surface on which she played all four of her grands. Won slam titles.
It was just as Osaka had beaten China's Saisai Zheng the day before and picked up the pace after winning the final honors by lighting an Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Games.
The Japanese superstar, who grew up in the United States, was asked to handle Flame Honors in March, but said he "didn't feel pressured" about the assignment.
"I felt more excited," Osaka said. "It was like a sense of duty, something I wanted to fulfill.
Osaka said, "It's something you watch on TV as a kid. You gather around the TV with your family at the Olympics and you watch the whole ceremony." "I know my grandparents were probably crying and my mom absolutely."
If Djokovic could win four more matches, he would not only have won his first Olympic title, he would also be four-fifths of the way to a Golden Slam - winning all four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold in the same calendar year.
The Serb has already won the Australian and French Open as well as Wimbledon this year. Now he needs a Tokyo title and a US Open trophy to complete the unique collection. Djokovic's next opponent will be 16th seed Alejandro Davidovich Focina of Spain, who beat Australia's John Millman 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3.
Steffi Graf was the only tennis player to win the Golden Slam in 1988.
It is Osaka's first incident since pulling out of the French Open in May, revealing she is battling depression. After that she dropped out of Wimbledon.
Two more wins and Osaka will be in line for more honors in her Olympic debut - a medal.
"Of course it means a lot to me but I know it's a process," Osaka said. "The flag is next to my name no matter what tournament I play, but I think the scale is huge. It's something I've been waiting for eight years (since she turned pro in 2013). "
Second-ranked Osaka will next face 2019 French Open runner-up Marka Vondrosova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Romania's Mihela Buzarnescu 6-1, 6-2.
In windy, colder and more cloudy conditions than the raging start of the first two days of the competition, Osaka compiled 29 of Golubic's 14 winners and only 11 unforced errors out of his opponent's 21.
Perhaps more telling was the fact that Osaka needed only 65 minutes to send the player out of a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon.
Osaka controlled the opening set with the break for a 5–3 lead, slapping her left thigh before returning to propel herself and then crushing a forehand cross-court winner to end the game. Gave.
At the start of the second set there were two more breaks and Osaka went ahead.
While the Ariake Coliseum is empty of spectators like all Tokyo Games events due to the pandemic, during Osaka's matches the throng of photographers is as busy as ever documenting her every move.
On his first match point, Osaka made a big second serve down the tee, then went ahead with an inside forehand winner to complete Golubic's weak return.
With his day at work, Osaka clenched his left fist and looked at his support team at the back of the court with a grin – as the photographers clicked.
Some other top women struggled.
Croatia's Donna Vekic defeated third seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) and Belgium's Alisson Van Uytvanck defeated 2016 Czech bronze medalist Petra Kvitova 5-7. , defeated 6-3. , 6-0.
In men's action, second seed Daniil Medvedev of ROC and fourth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany made rapid progress. Medvedev defeated Sumit Nagal of India 6-2, 6-1 and Zverev defeated Daniil Ilahi Galan of Colombia 6-2, 6-2.
Meanwhile, the International Tennis Federation announced that Dutch player Jean-Julien Roger tested positive for COVID-19 and was withdrawn from the doubles tournament along with partner Wesley Koolhof.
The eighth seeded pair was to play New Zealand's Marcus Daniels and Michael Venus. Daniels and Venus received a walkover in the quarterfinals, and Roger was sidelined.
In the women's section, seventh seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain, French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic and number nine Belinda Bencic of Switzerland took the lead.