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Gold for Federer in doubles

Djokovic clinches Serbia’s first medal

BEIJING: Roger Federer has added a gold medal to his extensive trophy collection by teaming up with Stanislas Wawrinka to win the Olympic tenni doubles on Saturday, beating Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3.

Federer extended his arms in triumph and began to hop. Then, he embraced his doubles partner and they hopped together. Federer had waited a while for a big victory to celebrate, and when the chance came he was ready.

Earlier, Dinara Safina beat Li Na of China 7-6(3), 7-5 to set up an all-Russian Olympic gold medal women’s singles final.

Safina closed out her victory less than five minutes after Elena Dementieva beat a third Russian semifinalist, Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 7-6(3).

“It’s a huge moment for Russia,” Dementieva said. “I’m sure all the fans in Russia will be very happy about it.”

Dementieva was a silver medallist at Sydney in 2000, while Safina is a first-time Olympian.

Huge achievement

The first tennis medal went to Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who won a bronze by beating James Blake of the United States 6-3, 7-6(4) in men’s singles. A jubilant Djokovic ripped off his shirt and threw it to the cheering crowd, along with two rackets, and waved a Serbian flag as he jogged around the court.

“To win any medal in the Olympics is a huge achievement,” Djokovic said. “Not many of the athletes get a chance to win a medal.”

Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States won the bronze medal in doubles. The brothers rallied to defeat Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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

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

“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.”

Williams in final

Sisters Serena and Venus Williams advanced to Sunday’s 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 won the gold at Sydney but didn’t play doubles in Athens four years ago because Serena was hurt.

“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 second-seeded Williamses will play No. 4 Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, who beat Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China 6-4, 7-6(5).

Safina won her 15th match in a row, playing barely 12 hours after losing a doubles match that ended at 3:35 a.m.

She struggled with her serve, double-faulting four times in one game, but otherwise looked fresh in the frequent long rallies.

“It wasn’t easy,” Safina said. “I didn’t sleep enough. I’m just really happy that I could put all my energy into the match and pull out the match.”

Scrambling that nearly sent her into a flower box in the corner of the court was rewarded when Li floated a weary backhand long, giving Safina a service break for 5-all in the second set.

The final point was a 17-stroke rally that ended with an errant forehand by Li. — AP

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