ATHENS, 19 August 2004 — Shell-shocked Americans Andy Roddick and Venus Williams joined men’s top seed Roger Federer in the favorites’ exodus from the Olympic tennis tournament yesterday. Men’s second seed Roddick and Williams, the 2000 Olympic women’s singles and doubles champion, both lost in third-round upsets a day after Swiss world No. 1 Federer was beaten by a Czech teenager in the second round.
However, the top three women’s seeds - Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, France’s Amelie Mauresmo and Russian Anastasia Myskina - all advanced to the last eight.
Williams’ 6-4, 6-4 defeat by France’s Mary Pierce on court one meant the Americans have no representatives in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles after Chanda Rubin and Lisa Raymond also lost in the third round yesterday.
US Open champion Roddick lost 6-4, 6-4 to talented but often erratic Chilean Fernando Gonzalez on centre court.
His defeat left No. 3 Carlos Moya of Spain as the only survivor from the top seven seeds in the men’s singles.
Moya flirted with defeat himself before claiming a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over towering Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Like Federer, who lost in three sets to Czech Tomas Berdych on Tuesday, the American looked out of sorts on the fast blue hardcourt and Gonzalez fully deserved one his finest career victories.
Gonzalez plays French eighth seed Sebastien Grosjean in the quarterfinals.
He and teammate Nicolas Massu, the 10th seed who is also through to the last eight, are seeking to become Chile’s first Olympic gold medalist. Massu faces Moya next.
World No. 1 Henin-Hardenne, back to her best after a long absence due to a virus, needed only 45 minutes to defeat Australia’s Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-0.
Mauresmo completed a French double over the United States with a 6-3, 6-1 thrashing of Rubin, despite coming out in a skin rash during the second set that later caused her to pull out of the doubles, where she was partnering Pierce.
That gave Navratilova and Raymond a walkover into the last eight but Mauresmo said she expected to be fit to face Russian fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the singles quarterfinals yesterday.
French Open champion Myskina, meanwhile, just about kept her cool to douse the passionate home support and secure a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Greek Eleni Daniilidou.
Paes and Bhupathi Beam
In on Olympic Glory
• Indian pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took another step nearer an elusive Olympic gold medal when they beat Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett 6-4, 6-4 to reach the men’s doubles semifinals at the Olympic tennis tournament.
Gong Beaten by
Dutch Hope Audina
• Mia Audina assured the Dutch of their first Olympic badminton medal yesterday by beating Chinese top seed Gong Ruina 11-4, 11-2 in the women’s singles semifinals.
The devout 24-year-old, who won a silver medal for Asian badminton powerhouse Indonesia at the 1996 Atlanta Games before marrying a Dutch gospel singer and moving to the Netherlands, is assured of at least another silver in Athens.
She will meet China’s second seed Zhang Ning, who powered past compatriot Zhou Mi 11-6 11-4, in today’s gold medal match at the Goudi Olympic hall in Athens.
South Korean seventh seed Shon Seung-mo staged a thrilling comeback to defeat second seed Chen Hong in the quarterfinals of the Olympic men’s badminton singles yesterday which left China without a player in an event they were expected to dominate.
A semifinalist at the world championships last year, Shon started slugglishly against Chen but came storming back to beat the world number two 10-15, 15-4, 15-10.
Shon will meet eighth seed Soni Dwi Kuncoro in the last four after the Indonesian overcame unseeded South Korean Park Tae-sang 15-13, 15-4. Soni Dwi’s victory increased the possibility of an all-Indonesian final following unseeded compatriot Taufik Hidayat’s 15-12, 15-12 win over Danish sixth seed Peter Gade earlier in the day.
