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Saturday, August 16, 2008

RAFA GOES FOR GOLD ~ HIS FANS THINK HE IS GOLDEN BECAUSE OF HIS INTEGRITY


Rafa in Olympic Semi-Final Match against Djokovic
Photo credit: Reuters


Rafa in Olympic Semi-Final Match with Djokovic

Djokovic loses to Rafa ~ but goes on to win bronze
Rafa will play for Gold, but will definitely medal

Semi-Final match change over


Olympics Tennis Finals

Rafael Nadal plays in The Final ~ The Gold Medal Match
in the second match of Centre Court.

Time 3:30 a.m. or 4:00 a.m. USA EST ~ Saturday night going into Sunday morning
The start time depends on the Women's Gold Medal match that precedes Rafa.
See schedule here:

Centre Court

2 p.m. Beijing start time ~ USA EST 2:00 a.m.

Women’s Singles - Gold medal match ~ The best of 3 sets

(6) SAFINA Dinara (RUS) vs (5) DEMENTIEVA Elena (RUS)


Mens Singles - Gold medal match ~ The best of 5 sets

(2) NADAL Rafael (ESP) vs (12) GONZALEZ Fernando (CHI)


Court 1

2 p.m. Beijing start time ~ USA EST 2:00 a.m.

Women’s Singles - Bronze medal match ~ The best of 3 sets

(9) ZVONAREVA Vera (RUS) vs LI Na (CHN)
2 Womens Doubles - Gold medal match

(2) WILLIAMS/WILLIAMS (USA) vs (4) MEDINA/RUANO (ESP)


Court 2

2 p.m. Beijing start time ~ USA EST 2:00 a.m.

Women’s Doubles - Bronze medal match ~ The best of 3 sets

(6) BONDARENKO/BONDARENKO (UKR) vs (8) YAN/ZHENG (CHN)

Source: www.itftennis.com

Rafa's Semi-Final match's Sets 2 and 3 with Novak Djokovic
are available: www.nbcolympics.com/video

And you can
watch Rafa play in the finals online LIVE

www.nbcolympics.com/tennis
without commercials, written commentary by Steve Tignor of tennis.com
Better than TV

or on TV: Channel USA


You can also watch online free on the official Beijing 2008 site.
Just select your counrty on the Olympic Video link on the right.

en.beijing2008.cn

and on the BBC

news.bbc.co.uk


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Golden moment: Federer has his medal

BEIJING (AP) -- Roger Federer extended his arms in triumph and began to hop. Then he embraced his doubles partner and they hopped together.

Federer had waited awhile for a big victory to celebrate, and when the chance came he was ready. He added a gold medal to his extensive trophy collection by teaming with Stanislas Wawrinka to win the Olympic doubles Saturday.

The Swiss duo beat Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

For Federer the victory was a moment to savor in a frustrating year. He lost in the quarterfinals of Olympic singles, his Grand Slam total has been stalled at 12 since last September, and his 4½-year reign atop the rankings will end Monday when Rafael Nadal becomes No. 1. Source

Photos

See the Rewind of the Match online NBC (USA) - See Links below.
NOTE: Beside the Rewind word - the squares take you to a page with photos


08/16 16:00PM
RUS RUS
Women's Singles Semifinal 1
Vera ZVONAREVA
(RUS)
- Elena DEMENTIEVA
(RUS)
Official
08/16 16:00PM
CHN RUS
Women's Singles Semifinal 2
Na LI
(CHN)
- Dinara SAFINA
(RUS)
Official
08/16 17:00PM
SUI SWE
Men's Doubles Gold-Medal Match

(SUI)
-
(SWE)
Official
08/16 17:00PM
UKR USA
Women's Doubles Semifinal 2

(UKR)
-
(USA)
Official
08/16 19:00PM
USA SRB
Men's Singles Bronze-Medal Match
James BLAKE
(USA)
- Novak DJOKOVIC
(SRB)
Official
08/16
USA FRA
Men's Doubles Bronze-Medal Match

(USA)
-
(FRA)
Official
08/16
ESP CHN
Women's Doubles Semifinal 1

(ESP)
-
(CHN)
Official
Djokovic bests Blake for bronze

BEIJING (AP) -- Novak Djokovic has claimed the bronze medal in singles tennis for Serbia by defeating James Blake of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (4) Saturday.

When he closed out the tiebreaker, a jubilant Djokovic ripped off his shirt and threw it to the cheering crowd, along with two rackets, and he started to throw his bag before stopping. He took a Serbian flag from a fan and waved it as he jogged around the court.

Djokovic, seeded third, bounced back from a three-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals Friday. Source

Bryan brothers claim medal for U.S.

BEIJING (AP) -- Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States have won a bronze medal in Olympic doubles.

The brothers rallied to defeat Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Saturday.

The Olympic medal is the first for the Bryans, who have won all four Grand Slam championships and 48 tournament titles.

"We're leaving China on a high," Mike Bryan said. "We were obviously disappointed that we couldn't make the gold medal match, but it's going to be something really special to us to have that medal back at home."

They were seeded No. 1 in Beijing but lost to Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the semifinals Friday.

Llodra and Clement were coming off a 19-17 third-set loss in the semifinals.

The U.S. tennis team will win one other medal. Venus and Serena Williams play for the women's doubles title Sunday. Source

Photos

Serena, Venus win in sibling semi

Williams sisters still undefeated in Olympic doubles, guaranteed medal

BEIJING (AP) -- Serena Williams loves to show off the Olympic gold medal she won in 2000. She and her sister may soon have another one to brag about.

The Williamses advanced Saturday to the doubles final by beating another sibling pair, Ukraine's Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Venus and Serena improved to 9-0 lifetime in Olympic doubles. They didn't play doubles in Athens four years ago because Serena was hurt, but they won a gold medal in Sydney.

"Hopefully I'll be able to show people a new one," Serena said.

Both were beaten in the quarterfinals of singles, but they're assured of at least a silver medal in doubles.

"Obviously we would have loved to have brought home more medals for the U.S.," Venus said. "We did the best we could. We're not asking for more at this point. Next time we'll ask for a little more."

And there will be a next time, the sisters said. Both plan to play at the London Olympics in 2012.

"I'll be in London," Serena said.

"I definitely will be in London," Venus said."You know, we'll still be pretty young."

Venus will be 32 and Serena 30 in four years.

As for Sunday, the No. 2-seeded Williamses will play the winner of the semifinal between Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China and Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain.

Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva will play for a gold medal in an all-Russian singles final Sunday. Dementieva beat a third Russian semifinalist, Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 7-6 (3), and five minutes later on an adjacent court, Safina defeated Li Na of China 7-6 (3), 7-5.

Source: Read full article

Photos

Gold mine: Russions reach final

BEIJING (AP) -- Dinara Safina ran into the corner near the potted flowers to retrieve one ball, then sprinted across the "Beijing 2008" design in the concrete to the other side of the court for the next shot.

She was rewarded for her effort, winning that point and the match. Showing no fatigue from the late hours she has been keeping, Safina beat Li Na of China 7-6 (3), 7-5 Saturday to forge an all-Russian Olympic final.

Read the full article and see photos


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