The Hindu : Sport : Rafael Nadal reigns supreme

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Rafael Nadal reigns supreme

Kamesh Srinivasan

Dementieva rallies to bag gold; Williams sisters triumph

— PHOTO: AFP

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Rafael Nadal is ecstatic after defeating Fernando Gonzalez in the men’s tennis final on Sunday.

BEIJING: Rafael Nadal took one more smart step to decorate his brilliant career, as he captured the Olympic gold with a superlative 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre here on Sunday. It was Spain’s first gold in tennis.

Poised to take over the No.1 position from Roger Federer on Monday, after a three-year wait at the No. 2 spot, the 22-year-old Spaniard, played with usual intensity, athleticism and imagination, to capture his eighth title of the year, to add to the Grand Slams won at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

It was an improvement for the 12th seeded Gonzalez from the singles bronze in the last Games, and the talented Chilean who had won the doubles gold as well in the last Games with Nicolas Massu, threw everything at Nadal, but missed the key points. The two had a 3-3 career record, but the Chilean, with an attacking game particularly on the forehand, looked to have left his best tennis behind.

Tight set

After losing the first set following a break in the second game, Gonzalez played his best in the second set. He forced two set points on Nadal’s serve in the 12th game, but punched a backhand volley wide, to pay dearly.

He buried a forehand into the net on the next point. Nadal was too good in the tie-breaker.

Into the third set, Nadal broke through in the fourth game and saved two breakpoints following a double fault in the seventh game to douse the hopes of the Chilean.

In a last hurrah, Gonzalez, who fired nine aces in the match, saved three match-points on his serve in the eighth game, but Nadal was too quick to be denied his hour of glory for long.

Nadal served out the match that lasted two hours and 22 minutes, with ease and collapsed on his back, in typical style. He quickly got up and smashed a ball out of the stadium before shaking hands with the Chilean.

“Not in my best dreams could I have imagined this. It is very special just to compete here. I’ve had an incredible experience with all my countrymen,” said Nadal, who will collect 400 ATP points for his effort, to stay that much ahead of Federer.

“I came here with a dream, with a goal to get one medal for my country and for me,” said Gonzalez, even as he conceded the dominance of Nadal that stopped him from getting the best medal.

Russians dominate

The Russian girls made it a 1-2-3 in singles, to strike a beautiful picture on the podium. This was the first time since 1908 when Britain did it, that a country had won all three medals in a tennis event in the Olympics.

Elena Dementieva recovered from a slow and erratic start to subdue a tired Dinara Safina in three sets, and went on her knees to thank the heavens for the gold medal.

“This is the best thing that has happened to me in my life. I was eight years old and dreaming about this moment”, said an elated Dementieva, who had won silver in the Sydney Games in 2000, when another Russian, Yevgeny Kafelnikov had won the men’s gold.

Asked whether it was a good preparation for the US Open, Dementieva shot back, that she did not even want to think about it.

Understandably it was tough to play a friend and team-mate, but Dementieva, who had lost to Safina five times in seven previous meetings, said that she had to fight for the gold.

The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, added to the gold tally for the US, by clinching the women’s doubles gold. For the reigning Wimbledon champions, it was their second Olympic gold after Sydney. Venus had won the singles as well in 2000.

Zvonareva takes bronze

The Chinese Yan Zi and Zheng Jie had to settle for the bronze, while Li Na lost to Vera Zvonareva in the fight for the singles bronze.

“The four pairs in the semifinals were all very good and winners of Grand Slams. So, this bronze medal is very important to me,” said Zheng Jie, who had made the Wimbledon singles semifinals last month.

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