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Ash Barty's stunning response to Olympic singles heartbreak

Ash Barty and Storm Sanders, pictured here in action at the Olympic doubles event.
Ash Barty and Storm Sanders are through to the quarter-finals of the Olympic doubles event. Image: Getty

Ash Barty has bounced back from her devastating loss in the opening round of the Olympics tennis singles by marching into the quarter-finals of the doubles.

The World No.1 was dumped out of the singles event on Sunday in a shock loss to Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo.

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However the Aussie star rebounded on Monday, teaming with doubles partner Storm Sanders to progress to the final eight with a 6-4 6-4 defeat of China's Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan.

"Of course yesterday was disappointing," Barty said.

"I'm not going to hide behind the fact that I wanted to do really well here, but we move on pretty quickly in tennis.

"I've really enjoyed getting out there with Storm today and we're still on the hunt for a medal for Australia."

In her fifth Olympics, Sam Stosur also reached the third round with partner Ellen Perez in a tough 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 win against Romanians Monica Niculescu and Raluca Olaru.

The Australian pairs are in opposite sides of the draw and wouldn't meet until the final if they continue their winning ways.

But it wasn't all joy for the Aussie tennis contingent on Monday.

John Millman and Alja Tomlanjovic both lost tight second-round singles matches, Millman fighting back after Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina had served for the match in the second set to eventually lose 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 in almost three hours.

Tomljanic was up a set and a break before fourth seed Elina Svitolina produced some clutch tennis in a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win.

And Max Purcell couldn't continue his charmed run, ousted 6-3 6-0 by Germany's Dominik Koepfer.

Ash Barty and Storm Sanders, pictured here in action against Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang.
Ash Barty and Storm Sanders in action against Yifan Xu and Zhaoxuan Yang at the Olympics. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic advance

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev both won with ease while Naomi Osaka cruised in a 6-3 6-2 win over Wimbledon quarter-finalist Viktorija Golubic.

It's Osaka's first event since she withdrew from the French Open in May when she revealed she's been dealing with bouts of depression.

The Japanese star opened up about being handed the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron at last week's opening ceremony, revealing she was offered the role in March.

"I felt more excitement (than pressure)," Osaka said.

"It was like a sense of duty, like something I wanted to accomplish.

"It's something that you see as a kid on TV. 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 mum of course."

Two more wins and Osaka will be in line for even more honours in her Olympic debut - a medal.

"Definitely it would mean a lot for 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 feel like the scale of this is much bigger.

"It's something I've been waiting for for eight years (since she turned pro in 2013)."

with AAP

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