Tennis Day 7 Review: Djokovic scores Singles bronze

(BEIJING, August 17) -- Reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia claimed the Men's Singles bronze medal with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over No. 8 seed James Blake of the United States at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on Saturday, August 16.

On the penultimate day of action in the Olympic Tennis tournament, the gold- and bronze-medal matches in Men's Doubles were also decided, the line-up for the Women's Singles was determined -- it will be an all-Russian affair -- and the Women's Doubles semifinals were completed.

Men's Singles, bronze medal

Djokovic lived up to his No. 3 seeding by taking the bronze in his first career meeting with Blake. Djokovic is the first man from Serbia to win an Olympic medal in Tennis.

Blake is the third US man to be frustrated in the chase for Olympic bronze; Brad Gilbert came up short to Stefan Edberg of Sweden in Seoul 1988, while Taylor Dent was sent packing by Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in Athens 2004.

Men's Doubles, gold, silver, bronze medals

Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the Doubles gold medal with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3 victory over Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden.

Federer, who loses his World No. 1 ranking on August 18 for the first time since February 2004, to Rafael Nadal of Spain, has yet to win a Grand Slam title this year and was banking on success at the Olympics. While his dream of an Olympic medal in Singles ended in the quarterfinals, he can now be known as an Olympic champion.

It was the second Tennis gold medal for Switzerland; Marc Rosset won gold at the Barcelona 1992 Games.

The unseeded Aspelin and Johansson team claimed the second silver Doubles medal for Sweden, following in the footsteps of Stockholm 1912 silver medalists Carl Kempe and Gunnar Setterwall.

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the United States, the Men's Doubles top seeds, did not leave Beijing empty-handed. They picked up the bronze medal with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France.

Women's Singles, semifinals

Dinara Safina of Russia fought fatigue and a feisty Li Na of China 7-6 (3), 7-5 to clinch a place in the gold medal match in her Olympic debut.

Safina, who was on the court playing Doubles until 3:35 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8), was not at her best, but good enough to fight off Li to set up an appointment with fellow Russian Elena Dementieva. The match marked Safina's first victory in three matches against Li.

Safina, a French Open finalist this year, is the most successful performer on the WTA Tour this year and enjoying a 15-match winning streak, having won titles in Los Angeles and Toronto en route to Beijing.

Dementieva booked her second career appearance in a gold-medal Singles match -- she took silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games -- by outlasting teammate Vera Zvonareva in a 6-3, 7-6 (3) semifinal.

Zvonareva, who was only in the Singles competition because Russian player Maria Sharapova's was prevented from playing due to a shoulder injury, will face Li for the bronze medal on Sunday, August 17.

Women's Doubles, semifinals

Serena Williams and Venus Williams of the United States, the reigning Wimbledon Doubles champions, will be in the hunt for a second Olympic gold medal in Doubles after beating fellow sister act Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in their first meeting.

The Williams sisters won Doubles gold at Sydney 2000, while Venus also won Singles gold at those Olympics.

The Williams sisters will face fourth seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the gold medal match. The Spanish team beat eighth seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 7-6 (5) in their semifinal on Saturday.

The Bondarenko sisters will play Yan and Zheng in the bronze medal match.