 Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 15 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 13 Aug 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer/Sergio Carmona
Date: 16 Aug 2008 |
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| 16 Aug 2008 - Olympic Tennis Centre, Beijing - Chris Bowers | |
| Nadal the favourite and Russia guaranteed gold |
The final scheduled day of the tennis event will see eight more medals decided and nine presented, with the one guarantee that Russia will win a gold.
That’s because the women’s final features two Russians, Elena Dementieva hoping to go one step higher up the rostrum than she went eight years ago when, as an 18-year-old, she followed up her semifinal showing at the US Open by reaching the Olympic final.
She lost that one to Venus Williams. Standing in her way this time is Dinara Safina, and while Safina may not present quite the threat that Venus did in that summer of 2000 when she went 35 matches unbeaten, Safina has defeated Dementieva on five of the seven occasions they have played. Three of them were on Safina’s dream run in May and June when she won Berlin and reached the French Open final, and while Dementieva won their only meeting on hard courts, that was four years ago at the 2004 US Open.
Chinese supporters will be in full voice on the outside courts where Li Na takes on Vera Zvonareva for the bronze medal, and Yan Zi and Zheng Jie will play Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko for the doubles bronze medal.
The Olympic tennis event will close with what’s likely to be the latest milestone on Rafael Nadal’s remarkable purple patch. The Spaniard starts as firm favourite against Fernando Gonzalez for the singles gold in what is his last match before officially taking over the No 1 world ranking.
Gonzalez has a good record over Nadal, having won their only two previous matches on hard courts, but Nadal is playing so well that the surface probably doesn’t matter. What does matter is whether Gonzalez believes he can win, and it’s hard to find anyone who currently believes they can beat Nadal. One thing’s for certain – Gonzalez will need his big forehand to be working to have any chance.
The bronze medal will go to Novak Djokovic, who beat James Blake 63 76(4) in yesterday’s playoff match.
That just leaves the women’s doubles, which features the Wimbledon champions playing the French Open champions. Venus and Serena Williams have not had it all their own way at this tournament, but they’re out for a second gold after the one they won in Sydney. Blocking their path are Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, but when the two pairs met on the grass of Wimbledon a few weeks ago, the Americans won 61 64, and will start favourites for another gold.
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