Thursday’s highlights
The winners, losers and numbers that made up the day in Rio:
Tennis
Venus Williams, upset in the first round in singles and doubles while battling a virus, was a late entrant into mixed doubles. She and teammate Rajeev Ram faced two match points and saved both in rallying from a set down for a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 10-8 victory over Kiki Bertens and Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands. … American Madison Keys closed in on an Olympic medal by reaching the women’s singles semifinals. No. 7-seeded Keys’ power-based game overwhelmed Daria Katsatkina of Russia, 6-3, 6-1, in a mere 53 minutes, thanks in large part to a 30-4 edge in winners. … Steve Johnson, a four-time NCAA team champion and twotime individual winner for Southern California, had a similarly easy time of things against Evgeny Donskoy of Russia, winning 6-1, 6-1. … The top-seeded mixed doubles team of Caroline Garcia and Nicolas Mahut of France lost to Brazil’s Teliana Pereira and Marcelo Melo, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1).
Women’s field hockey
The U.S. team improved to 4-0 and will play Britain Saturday to determine who will win Pool B. Katie Bam scored two goals and helped the U.S. team defeat India, 3-0.
Men’s beach volleyball
Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena are through to the knockout stage after an extra long victory over Italy. The Americans won, 21-13, 21-17, 24-22, to finish unbeaten in group play.
Table tennis
World No. 1 Ma Long has extended China’s utter domination in the sport with his 4-0 gold-medal win over countryman Zhang Jike, the London champion. China has won all but four gold medals since table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988.
Men’s cycling
Britain won the first gold medal of the track cycling program, rallying past New Zealand in the men’s team sprint. The squad of Philip Hindes, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner trailed their rivals when their second and third riders dropped away, but Skinner was able to make up the difference. They finished in a time of 42.440 seconds, lowering the Olympic record that the Kiwis set in the previous round. Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster and Ed Dawkins finished in 42.542 seconds.
Men’s basketball
Pau Gasol scored 24 points as Spain rallied for a crucial 96-87 win against Nigeria. … An enthusiastic Brazilian crowd did its best to will the host team to victory but Croatia rode the hot-shooting of Bojan Bogdanovic to an 80-76 victory. Bogdanovic scored a gamehigh 33 on 10-for-16 shooting.
Women’s fencing
Romania beat top-ranked China to win the gold in the epee final. It’s the first medal in Rio for the Romanians, who outscored China, 4438. Russia beat Estonia, 37-31, to claim bronze and an Olympicleading fifth fencing medal.