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Beijing — Dinara Safina beat Li Na of China 7-6 (3), 7-5 Saturday 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.”
The No. 6-seeded Safina and No. 5 Dementieva will play for the gold medal Sunday, and are both assured of at least a silver. Dementieva was a silver medalist at Sydney in 2000, while Safina is a first-time Olympian.
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.
men’s doubles
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 Saturday.
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 Friday.
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.
Both were beaten in the quarterfinals of singles, but they’re assured of at least a silver medal in doubles.
Seeded second, the sisters 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.
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. AP
