Tennis News Blog

Williams sisters win gold in Olympic doubles
Venus and Serena Williams teamed up to win the Olympic doubles final Sunday, beating Spanish duo Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0. The American sisters, seeded second, shrieked when Ruano Pascual sent the championship point long. Then they jumped for joy and hugged each other. The win improved the sisters’ Olympic record to 10-0 and gave them their second gold medal. They won the doubles event at the Sydney Games but didn’t play Athens because Serena was hurt.

Top seed Verdasco advances at Pilot Pen (AP)
Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco beat Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the third round of the Pilot Pen tournament Monday night. Verdasco, ranked No. 13 in the world, had a bye into the second round. He also reached the quarterfinals of this tournament in 2005 and 2007. Seventh-seeded Alize Cornet eliminated Nicole Vaidisova 6-3, 7-6 (8) in a first-round match.

Dementieva rallies from a set down for gold
Elena Dementieva exploited Dinara Safina’s 17 double-faults and rallied to win the women’s singles gold in Beijing.

Del Potro wins fourth straight tournament
Juan Martin del Potro won his fourth straight tournament Sunday, beating Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 to take the Legg Mason Tennis Classic championship. The 19-year-old, ranked No. 19 in the world, has won his last 19 matches since June 25, when he was bounced from Wimbledon in the second round. Serving with a 5-3 lead in the second set, del Potro used two aces to go up 40-15. But on two match points, he first put a backhand, then a forehand, into the net.

Nadal wins gold medal in Olympic tennis
A day before he took over the No. 1 ranking, Rafael Nadal looked like the game’s top player, winning Olympic gold.

Olympics-Perfectionist Nadal still not satisfied
BEIJING, Aug 18 (Reuters) - For Rafael Nadal’s rivals the bad news is that the Spaniard thinks he can get even better.

Petrova dominates Dechy in Mason final (AP)
Second-seeded Nadia Petrova dominated unseeded Nathalie Dechy, 6-2, 6-1, to win the Western and Southern Financial Groups Women’s Open on Sunday. Petrova, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon this year, clinched the win with a forehand return on her second match point to earn her first championship since the 2007 Tier II Paris indoor tournament.