Federer salvages bid for Olympic medal

BEIJING (AP) Roger Federer kept alive his dream for an Olympic gold medal, joining Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka to upset top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan Friday and reach the final of the men's doubles tennis competition.

The fourth-seeded Swiss pair collapsed to the ground in elation and hugged each other after beating the Bryan brothers 7-6 (6), 6-4.

"I'm very excited," said Federer, who was knocked out of the single's on Thursday. "Having beaten the best in the world and going for gold, it's an incredible scenario. This is a big moment in my career."

An Olympic medal is one of the few glories that has eluded Federer, who holds 55 titles that include 12 Grand Slam trophies. Federer's best Olympic showing was a singles semifinal appearance at the 2000 Sydney Games.

The Swiss star, who is struggling to overcome a yearlong slump, came to Beijing knowing he would lose the No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal next week after 4½ years on top.

Federer seldom plays doubles but brought his trademark elegance to the game, whipping off well-placed winners that had the Bryan brothers swinging their rackets at the air as balls sped by.

"He's a genius with the ball," said a worn-out looking Bob Bryan.

Brother Mike added: "He plays loose, relaxed and comes up with the shots. That's why he's the best."

The Bryan brothers, who have been playing tennis since the age of 2, have won 48 titles together but never an Olympic medal. The twins reached the doubles quarterfinals in Athens four years ago.

It was the second match of the day for the Swiss players, who just a few hours earlier beat Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi of India 6-2, 6-4 in a rain-delayed quarterfinal.

"They both came up guns-a-blazing," Paes said. "We got stuck with Roger just playing unbelievable tennis."

It was a turnaround from the night before, when Federer put on a lackluster performance in his singles quarterfinal against James Blake and was eliminated in straight sets.

Federer and Wawrinka will face unseeded Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in the final Saturday. The Swedes beat French duo Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-6 (6), 4-6, 19-17.

Their third set tiebreaker went back-and-forth with head-to-head battles at net for 36 games, setting an Olympic men's record for most games in a set. The old record was 34 games.

The second-seeded Venus and Serena Williams, both eliminated in singles Thursday, also completed a suspended second-round doubles match and beat Ayumi Morita and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 7-5, 6-2.

Another set of sisters, Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, beat Italian pair Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.

In the final match, Yan Zi and Zheng Jie of China beat top-seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina of Russia 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 to secure a semifinal spot. The match didn't end until 3:35 a.m. Saturday - the latest known finish at any sporting event in Olympic history, the International Tennis Federation said.

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