BEIJING: Roger Federer erased the bitter memory of his loss to Tomas Berdych at the Athens Olympics four years ago when he beat the Czech 6-3, 7-6 yesterday to reach the quarterfinals of the men’s singles. The Swiss top seed joined Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Serbian Novak Djokovic in the last eight after they ended Russian hopes in the men’s singles.
Federer survived a second set scare when a rash of doube-faults allowed Berdych to forge a 3-0 lead, but the 27-year-old hit back to gain revenge for his shock second-round upset in the Greek capital.
Judging by his reaction after a service winner on match point he clearly sees a first Olympic medal, preferably a gold one, as a consolation prize after a demoralizing year in which he lost his Wimbledon crown to Nadal.
Nadal, aiming for the gold medal in Beijing the day before he takes over from Federer as the world No. 1, defeated Russian Igor Andreev 6-4, 6-2.
“I’m close to my best level,” Nadal told reporters, though he later suffered defeat in the doubles alongside Tommy Robredo as the pair lost 6-2, 7-6 to Australians Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione. Third seed Djokovic was also impressive in his 7-6, 6-3 defeat of 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny and next meets Frenchman Gael Monfils.
In the women’s singles, the Williams sisters are still on course to meet in the final, although Serena was given a real fright by French teenager Alize Cornet, eventually winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 after a dreadful opening set in which she was handed a warning for smashing her racket.
Venus, shooting for a third Olympic gold, beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2 to set up a meeting with home favorite Li Na who became the first Chinese singles quarterfinalist at an Olympics.
Li began timidly against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi but with the crowd roaring her on she won 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.
