OLYMPICS: DAY 7

Fish flips Fernando, to play for gold against Massu
Justine wins classic over Myskina; to face Mauresmo

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA
Mardy Fish defeated Fernando Gonzalez on his way to an Olympic medal, top, and faces Nicolas Massu in final.	ATP

The way the American served out his semifinal over Fernando Gonzalez in Athens, one would think it will be Andy Roddick, not Mardy Fish, who will be playing for the gold against Nicolas Massu on Sunday.

But it was Fish – who had never reached the second week of a Slam before but has finally discovered himself at the Olympics – pulling out a remarkable a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. He confronts Massu, who often looked dead in the first set of his 7-6(5), 6-1 win over Taylor Dent. But the pony-tailed one fought hard and was the much more composed player through out the match.

"I didn't expect to be here, so I don't have anything to lose and I'm sure Nicolas would say the same thing," Fish said. "There's less pressure on both of us. I'm sure we'll be nervous in the beginning. I'm sure whoever pulls it out in the end will be nervous. At the end of the day, I think I can settle for a silver medal, but I definitely want the gold."

Dent had numerous chances in the first set against Massu, including a wide-open forehand pass on set point that he netted. Massu, who has never won a title away from clay, was ecstatic. "I'm living a dream," he said. "This is an historic moment for Chile. It was a dream for me to participate in the Olympic Games. Now I am in the final and ready to win gold."

Fish played a cool-headed contest, one where he dominated at net and didn't get worn down by the tough Gonzalez from the backcourt. He served big when he needed to and, for the first time since February, appears to be making good on his goal of making the Top 10.

"I've had some really tough close matches recently, and lost a lot of tiebreakers," Fish said. "I've been on the bad luck end of a lot of matches, so I hoped all the good things would ball up in one good tournament, either the US Open or the Olympics, so I guess this is the good one."

It was quite a scene after the match, with his good buddy Roddick cheering uproariously from the stands and US captain Patrick McEnroe beaming. "I'm really pumped for Mardy," Roddick told the AP. "He's playing great, and I'm psyched he's going for gold."

CAPTAIN PMAC PLEASED WITH PERFORMANCE
McEnroe, who has both propped Fish and ridden him when he felt his player wasn't working hard enough, was quite pleased.

"I've been waiting for this sort of performance from him at a huge event," McEnroe said. "I've been waiting for him to do this at a Slam, and it's just as big here."

On Saturday, Massu/Gonzalez will play for the doubles gold against through to Saturday's final against Germany's Nicolas Kiefer/Rainer Schuettler. Chile has never previously won an Olympic tennis medal, and will become the 35th nation to do so. Chile has only won a total of nine previous Olympic medals in all sports – six bronze and three silver.

Dent and Gonzalez will play for the bronze. The American beat the Chilean at last year's US Open 6-4 in the fifth set.

Just past midnight, the first medal was decided when Croatia's Mario Ancic and Ivan Ljubicic overcame Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes 7-6, 4-6, 16-14 for the bronze. The celebration was said to be memorable.

Justine wins classic over Myskina; to face Mauresmo
Anastasia Myskina must feeling like dying while Justine Henin-Hardenne lived again. The top-ranked Belgian showed that she's completely recovered from her viral infection when she came back from 1-5 down in the third set to take down Roland Garros champ 7-5, 5-7, 8-6 in the semifinals. "It was a great comeback," said Henin-Hardenne. "Just amazing. I don't know how I did it but I did it."

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Justine Henin-Hardenne has recoverd from a virus and being down 5-1 to Anastasia Myskina in the Olympian semis.

Henin-Hardenne will face No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo, who pushed back a strong charge from Australia's Alicia Molik 7-6, 6-3. It was a remarkable achievement from Henin-Hardenne, who played an up-and-down contest that saw her fail to serve out the match at 7-5, 5-4.

But she kept churning, while Myskina again failed to close the door against her rival in what must have felt like a bad case of déjà vu for the Russian. Last November at the WTA Championships, Myskina failed to serve out the match against Jusine in the round robin and lost 7-5, 5-7, 7-5. She ended up crying the whole night. On Friday, she also wept. "It is really upsetting," she said. "I was pretty sure I could finish off that match. I tried to fight but I couldn't do it."

Mauresmo got a sweet measure of revenge for her loss to Molik in Carlsbad three weeks ago and now will get to play for a Slam-styled prize for the second time in her career. The last time she reached the final of a major, at the '99 Australian Open, she fell to Martina Hingis in the final.

But she takes a 3-2 record against Henin-Hardenne into Saturday's final and surely has fresher legs. The two have played four times in the last 15 months and split those contests, all of them tight. Henin-Hardenne beat Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4 in Sydney this year on hard courts and then Mauresmo upended the Belgian 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 at Amelie Island on clay in April.

"I am guaranteed a medal now," Henin-Hardenne said. But let's hope it is a good one."

As of Friday night, the US was leading the games with 40 total medals to China's 36. But the Chinese keep coming, even in tennis, when the slightly obscure team of Li Ting/Sun Tian Tian beat Paola Suarez/Patricia Tarabini of Argentina 6-2, 2-6, 9-7, guaranteeing China its first Olympic tennis medal.

Li and Sun face No. 2 Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain for the gold Sunday. They beat No. 5 Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama of Japan.