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Novak Djokovic cruises to Round 1 victory over Hugo Dellien in Tokyo

Posted at 12:56 AM, Jul 24, 2021
and last updated 2021-07-24 04:15:38-04

Twenty-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic made quick work of Bolivia's Hugo Dellien in the first round of men's singles at the Tokyo Olympics, winning their match 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and one minute.

Dellien, 28, is currently ranked No.139 in the world but achieved a career-high ranking of 72 in 2020.

Djokovic, competing in his fourth Games for Serbia, is in the hunt for his first gold medal. He took bronze in 2008 and was knocked out by Juan Martin del Potro in both 2012 and 2016 -- the latter in the first round.

Fresh off of winning Wimbledon, Djokovic now has a shot at becoming the first male player to achieve a calendar "Golden Slam" -- winning all four Grand Slams plus the Olympics in one year (Steffi Graf did it on the women's side in 1988). He won the Australian Open and French Open ahead of Wimbledon, and thus would just need to win the Olympics and U.S. Open later this summer to get it done.

Djokovic, 34, has a relatively wide open opportunity to achieve the feat, as a number of the sport's biggest stars -- including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- opted out of the Olympics.