World Tennis News – Murray and Williams clinch glorious gold

Red hot Serena races to Gold

Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 6-0, 6-1 to claim the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games and become just the second woman to complete a career Golden Slam.

Sharapova bravely put the American into serve and Williams responded by hitting three aces and then broke the Russian to love with a forehand winner down the line. 

Williams broke again for 4-0 with a huge forehand into the corner and sealed the opening set in the sixth game when she forced Sharapova into error at the net.

When Williams raced into a 3-0 second set lead it appeared Sharapova may not get on the scoreboard. However the Russian third seed held in the fourth game and created two break points on the Williams serve a game later which the American saved with two winners.

Having held for 4-1 Williams broke to 15 with a smash to lead 5-1 and clinched the title with her 9th and 10th aces before jumping around Centre Court with delight. 

Williams joins Steffi Graf as the only women to have won titles at the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and the Olympics. The Legendary German won all five titles in 1988. 

Stat Attack – Williams

• Williams is the only player man or woman to have won all four Grand Slams and the Olympics in both singles and doubles
• With her 44th career singles title Williams moves into 10th place in the Open Era

 Stat Attack – Sharapova

• Sharapova was appearing in her 44th career final and was making her Olympic debut
• The Russian was looking to defeat Williams for the third time having beaten the American in the 2004 Wimbledon and WTA Championship finals 

The bronze medal in the Women’s singles went to World No.1 Victoria Azarenka who saw off Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4 to claim her place on the prestigious podium.

On song Murray claims golden revenge

British No.1 Andy Murray defeated World No.1 Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to take Olympic gold and win the biggest title of his career in superb style on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

Third seed Murray crucially saved two break points in the opening game to deny Federer the early initiative and did not drop serve during the match.

Murray forced Federer into error with a powerful backhand to break for 4-2 and broke again to clinch the opening set with a perfectly timed backhand passing shot up the line.

A forehand passing shot struck on the run gave Murray a 2-0 lead in the second set before he fended off six break points in a vital third game to open a 3-0 advantage. 

Murray broke Federer for a fourth successive time when Federer double faulted in the fourth game. Three games later Murray had a two set leadwhen Federer went long with a backhand return.

A tighter third set saw Federer try and fight back in search of the elusive Gold medal missing from his collection but it was Murray who broke in the fifth game as a crosscourt backhand drew an error from the Swiss 30 year-old.

Serving for the match Murray struck his fourth and fifth aces to clinch a stunning victory and a glorious first gold medal in singles for Great Britain since 1908.

Stat Attack – Murray

• Murray has now won 23 of his 35 career singles finals
• He moves back in front of Federer at 9-8 in their head to head series having lost their last three meetings

 Stat Attack – Federer

• It was only the second set Federer has been beaten in a best of five set final on grass after his epic loss to Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final
• As an 18 year-old Federer narrowly lost the bronze medal play-off in Sydney to Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 6-3

Juan Martin Del Potro won Argentina’s first Olympic tennis medal by seeing off World No.2 Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the bronze medal play-off. The Serb had won bronze in Beijing but could not hold off the power of the 2009 US Open Champion on Court 1.

Williams sisters seal historic third Gold

Venus and Serena Williams overcame Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 to defend their Olympic doubles title. 

The American sisters, who also won Gold in Sydney, are the first tennis players to win the same Olympic event three times and the first players to win four Olympic Gold medals.

Bronze went to the Russian team of Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko who came from a set down to defeat Americans Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Bryan Brothers complete first Gold

Top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan claimed their first Olympic title with a 6-4, 7-6(2) win over second seeds Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. 

Meanwhile Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet ensured there would be two French teams on the podium as they saw off Spaniards David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez 7-6(4), 6-2 in the bronze medal match.

Azarenka and Mirnyi take Mixed gold

Top seeds Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi fought back to defeat Great Britain’s Laura Robson and Andy Murray 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 and win Belarus’s first gold medal in tennis.

Wimbledon champions Bob Bryan and Lisa Raymond of the USA took bronze with a 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 win over Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas.

Rybarikova and Dolgopolov win Washington

Unseeded Magdalena Rybarikova lifted her third WTA singles title with a 6-1, 6-1 upset of top seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Citi Open in Washington. 

The 23 year-old Slovak did not drop a set all week in the US capital defeating the top three seeds in the process.  

The Men’s title went to 2nd seed Alexandr Dolgopolov who fought back to win a rain delayed final against 4th seed Tommy Haas 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-1.