Rio 2016: Rafael Nadal on course for double gold

Rafael Nadal gave up his ambitious dream of an Olympic golden treble after spending an exhausting four hours on court to reach the singles quarter-finals and men’s doubles final.

The 30-year-old was set to partner French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in the mixed but withdrew moments before they were to face Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek in a first round tie.

The effort of downing Gilles Simon in the singles followed just a couple of hours later by teaming with lifelong friend Marc Lopez to beat Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil to make the gold medal doubles match proved too much.

Nadal had hinted that he was unlikely to fullfil his mixed doubles commitments just after seeing off Nestor and Pospisil 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/4) to set-up Friday’s gold medal clash against Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania.

Nadal defeated French 15th seed Simon 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 and on Friday faces Brazilian number one Thomaz Bellucci who beat Belgian eighth seed David Goffin 7-6 (12/10), 6-4.

Andy Murray, the second seed and bidding to be the first player to defend an Olympic singles title, came back from 3-0 down in the deciding set to defeat Italy’s Fabio Fognini. The Wimbledon champion won 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

First win for Spain Spain tipped off in an eerily empty arena due to a security scare but the 2012 silver medallists finally showed up on the court for an all-important first Olympic basketball win on Thursday.

After last-second losses in their first two games, Spain claimed a 96-87 win over Nigeria in a match-up of winless teams desperate for a “W”, led by 16 points from veteran centre Pau Gasol.

In other Group B action, Argentina and Lithuania showed why they will both be tough to beat in the knockout phase, with Lithuania emerging 81-73 victors.