Saturday, August 16, 2008

Federer and Nadal For gold but not against each other!


Roger Federer kept alive his bid for an Olympic gold medal Friday night, joining Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka to upset top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan and win a spot in the final.

The fourth-seeded Swiss pair collapsed to the ground in elation and hugged each other after beating the Bryan brothers 7-6 (6), 6-4.

“I’m very excited,” Federer said. “Having beaten the best in the world and going for gold, it’s an incredible scenario. This is a big moment in my career.”

An Olympic gold medal is one of the few glories that has eluded Federer, who holds 55 titles, including 12 Grand Slams. Federer’s best Olympic showing was a singles semifinal appearance at the 2000 Sydney Games.

The Swiss star, who is struggling to overcome a yearlong slump, came to Beijing knowing he would lose the No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal next week after 41/2 years on top.

Federer seldom plays doubles but brought his trademark elegance to the game, whipping off well-placed winners that had the Bryan brothers swinging their rackets at the air as balls sped by.

“He’s a genius with the ball,” Bob Bryan said.

Brother Mike added: “He plays loose, relaxed and comes up with the shots. That’s why he’s the best.”

The Bryans, who have been playing tennis since the age of 2, have won 48 titles together but never an Olympic medal. The twins reached the doubles quarterfinals in Athens four years ago.

It was the second match of the day for Federer and Wawrinka, who a few hours earlier beat Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India 6-2, 6-4 in a quarterfinal match that had been suspended overnight because of rain.

“They both came up guns-a-blazing,” Paes said. “We got stuck with Roger just playing unbelievable tennis.”

It was a turnaround from the night before, when Federer put on a lackluster performance in his singles quarterfinal against James Blake and was eliminated in straight sets.

Federer and Wawrinka will face unseeded Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in the final Saturday. The Swedes beat French duo Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6 (6), 4-6, 19-17.

Their third set tiebreaker went back-and-forth with head-to-head battles at net for 36 games, setting an Olympic men’s record for most games in a set. The old record was 34 games.

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