Fri Aug 15 15:42:08 2008

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Nadal to face Gonzalez in Olympic final; Safina into semis

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Beijing, China (Sports Network) - Chilean Fernando Gonzalez saved three consecutive match points and beat angry American James Blake in a marathon three-set semifinal tennis showdown at the Olympics on Friday.

Gonzalez, the 12th seed, rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 victory, with the final set lasting 1 hour, 20 minutes. All told, it approached three hours before Gonzalez closed it out on his fifth match point, finally ending the encounter when Blake hit a return into the net.

Second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal, due to become the No.1 ranked player in the world next week, then topped third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

Gonzalez moved to 6-3 all-time against Blake and guaranteed himself a second consecutive Olympic medal after winning bronze four years ago. He will become the first men's tennis player to win back-to-back Olympic medals since Charles Winslow, who won gold in 1912 and then bronze in 1920.

The loss by Blake came one night after he upset top-seeded Roger Federer, beating the Super Swiss for the first time in nine career matchups. The American will have to settle for a try at a bronze medal.

Blake was ahead 40-0 in the 12th game of the final set, but gave away three straight match points and Gonzalez forced the extra play before breaking serve in the 19th game of the third set.

The American was then ahead 9-8 and on the first point of the ensuing game and hit a return with the ball clipping Gonzalez's racquet before going by the Chilean. Instead, chair umpire Carlos Bernardes ruled Blake's backhand return went long, and Gonzalez went on to win the final three games.

"Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be gentleman's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself," said Blake. "Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it."

Blake continued his rant against Gonzalez.

"I've tried to play this game for as long as I can," said Blake. "I make mistakes, but I try to do it with integrity, so my parents would be proud of the way I played. If that happened the other way, I never would have finished the match because my father would have pulled me off the court if I had acted that way.

"He's too good of a player to do something like that and to act like that. They's why it's disappointing, because he is a great player. I can't take anything away from the fact he won the match."

Gonzalez didn't readily admit the ball hit his racquet.

"Nobody asked me anything," he said. "We were on the court like 2 1/2 hours. I was really tired. I didn't feel anything."

Nadal booked his spot in the final on his second match point when Djokovic sent an overhand smash barely wide.

Looking ahead, Nadal is 3-3 all-time against Gonzalez, but he's won the last two encounters, both in 2007 in Masters Series events. Nadal is also trying to give Spain its first gold medal in Olympic tennis history.

The final women's singles quarterfinal was contested Friday with sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina defeating second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

The victory assured Russia of at least two medals in women's singles. Safina won her 14th consecutive match and will take on Li Na of China in the semifinals Saturday. In the other semi. Elena Dementiva battles Vera Zvonareva in an all-Russian affair.

It was the start of a very long night for Safina. She teamed with Svetlana Kuznetsova in doubles, but the top seeds lost an epic doubles match to the Chinese tandem of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8. The match ended after 3:30 a.m. The Russians blew a 5-2 lead in the final set, and all told the match lasted nearly three hours.

Federer is actually still alive for a gold medal in Beijing. He teamed with Stanislas Wawrinka to beat the doubles team of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Then, Federer and Wawrinka got into the gold medal match by knocking off top seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

In the gold medal match, Federer and Wawrinka will take on the duo of Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden. The Bryans will play Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France for bronze.

In women's doubles play, Serena and Venus Williams won twice to advance to the semifinals. They first topped Japan's Ai Sugiyama and Ayumi Morita, 7-5, 6-2. and then pulled out a 6-4, 6-0 win over Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina. Both Williams sisters were eliminated from singles play on Thursday, but they'll continue playing in the doubles semis on Saturday versus Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine.