The United States' Ken Flach and Robert Seguso defeated Spain's Sergio Casal and Emilio Sánchez in the final, 6–3, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 6–7(1–7), 9–7 to win the gold medal in Men's Singles tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics. It was the second consecutive American victory in the event (though tennis had been discontinued from the Olympics in the intervening 64 years) and its record-equaling third gold overall. Czechoslovaka's Miloslav Mečíř and Milan Šrejber and Sweden's Stefan Edberg and Anders Järryd won the bronze medals. It was the first medal in the event for Spain, Sweden, and Czechoslovakia.
| Men's doubles at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad | |||||||||||||
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 German stamp commemorating 1988 Olympic tennis | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center | ||||||||||||
| Dates | 23 September – 1 October 1988 | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | 31 teams (62 players) from 31 nations | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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| Men's doubles | |
|---|---|
| Tennis at the 1988 Summer Olympics |
The tournament was held from 23 September to 1 October at the Seoul Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul, South Korea. There were 62 players (31 pairs) from 31 nations, with the Colombian pair withdrawing.[1] Each nation had only one pair. There was no bronze-medal match.
Background
editThis was the eighth appearance of men's doubles tennis. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics where tennis has been on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 to the current program. A demonstration event was held in 1968.
The top seed and favorite was the American pair, Ken Flach and Robert Seguso, who had just won their second consecutive Wimbledon title (adding to earlier U.S. and French Open wins.[1]
Brazil, the People's Republic of China, West Germany, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, South Korea, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Great Britain made its sixth appearance in the event, most of any nation.
Competition format
editThe competition was a single-elimination tournament. Unlike the pre-hiatus tournaments, there was no bronze-medal match. All matches were best-of-five sets. Tiebreaks were used for any set before the fifth that reached 6–6.
Schedule
editAll times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, 23 September 1988 | Round of 32 | |
| Monday, 25 September 1988 | Round of 16 | |
| Tuesday, 27 September 1988 | Quarterfinals | |
| Thursday, 29 September 1988 | Semifinals | |
| Saturday, 1 October 1988 | 13:19 | Final |
Seeds
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Ken Flach / Robert Seguso (USA) (champions, gold medalists)
Sergio Casal / Emilio Sánchez (ESP) (final, silver medalists)
Darren Cahill / John Fitzgerald (AUS) (quarterfinals)
Guy Forget / Henri Leconte (FRA) (quarterfinals)
Stefan Edberg / Anders Järryd (SWE) (semifinals, bronze medalists)
Grant Connell / Glenn Michibata (CAN) (first round)
Jeremy Bates / Andrew Castle (GBR) (first round)
Miloslav Mečíř / Milan Šrejber (TCH) (semifinals, bronze medalists)
Draw
editKey
edit- Q = Qualifier
- WC = Wild card
- LL = Lucky loser
- Alt = Alternate
- SE = Special exempt
- PR = Protected ranking
- ITF = ITF entry
- JE = Junior exempt
- w/o = Walkover
- r = Retired
- d = Defaulted
- SR = Special ranking
Finals
edit| Semifinals | Final (gold-medal match) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Ken Flach (USA) Robert Seguso (USA) | 6 | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 8 |  Miloslav Mečíř (TCH) Milan Šrejber (TCH) | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||||
| 1 | Ken Flach (USA) Robert Seguso (USA) | 6 | 6 | 65 | 61 | 9 | |||||||||||
| 2 |  Sergio Casal (ESP) Emilio Sánchez (ESP) | 3 | 4 | 77 | 77 | 7 | |||||||||||
| 5 |  Stefan Edberg (SWE) Anders Järryd (SWE) | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Sergio Casal (ESP) Emilio Sánchez (ESP) | 6 | 1 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||||||
Top half
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Bottom half
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References
edit- ^ a b "Doubles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 25 December 2020.