August 18, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 15, 1429

BEIJING, Aug 17: Spain’s Rafael Nadal added Olympic gold to his glittering season collection as he destroyed Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the men’s singles final on Sunday.

Nadal, whose tennis domination will be confirmed when he becomes world No 1 for the first time on Monday, blew away the 2004 bronze-medallist 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to claim his eighth title this year.

He is the first top-five player to take the men’s title and the only Spanish champion after near-misses in 1992 and 1996. Nadal has already won his fourth consecutive French Open and first Wimbledon title this season.

Earlier Elena Dementieva won a combustible final against Dinara Safina to head a Russian one-two-three in the women’s singles.

The world No 7 recovered from an error-strewn first set to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, making up for her disappointment in losing the 2000 final.

Russia had already been guaranteed the first tennis podium sweep in 100 years when Vera Zvonareva, a late call-up for the injured Maria Sharapova, clinched the bronze medal play-off against China’s Li Na 6-0, 7-5.

Meanwhile, 2000 doubles champions Serena and Venus Williams won their second title with a one-sided 6-2, 6-0 victory against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain.

The sisters become only the second pair to win the women’s doubles twice after fellow Americans Gigi Fernandez and Mary Jo Fernandez.

Yan Zi and Zheng Jie bagged the bronze against Ukrainian sisters Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, handing China their second successive women’s doubles medal after Li Ting and Sun Tiantian’s victory in 2004.

The men’s final had seemed a formality, such is Nadal’s current form, and the muscular 22-year-old duly raced through the first set, breaking at 1-0 and taking the lead with a forehand winner.

Gonzalez blew his chance to get back into the match when he put a simple volley wide after creating two second-set points on Nadal’s serve.

Nadal was never behind in the tie-break and he landed the knock-out blow by breaking at 2-1 in the third. He missed three match points on Gonzalez’s serve before wrapping it up in the next game with a wide-angled forehand.

The women’s singles final got off to a low-quality and bad-tempered start with neither player able to hold serve and frustrations growing on both sides of the net.

A shrieking Dementieva lost the first set but crucially held off a break point at 5-5 in the second before levelling the match.

Safina swiped the ball into the crowd and smashed her racquet on the floor in the tense third set as Dementieva closed it out on her first match point.

Russia currently dominates women’s tennis with five of the top 10 players and three of the last four Fed Cup titles.

Nadal, an anonymous doubles player at Athens 2004, claims Spain’s first tennis gold after Jordi Arrese and Sergi Bruguera were losing finalists in 1992 and 1996, respectively.

Meanwhile, Switzerland’s Roger Federer could not stop hugging partner Stanislas Wawrinka after they beat Swedes Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to win the men’s doubles final on Saturday.

The best player in the world for the past five years produced flashes of brilliance throughout the contest but he also owed much to his lesser known opponent who played a full part in the Centre Court finale.

“The thing is, I can’t just hug a stranger when I win singles,” a beaming Federer told reporters after finally winning the Olympic medal he craved after failing to deliver at his previous two appearances.

“In singles you’re all alone on the court. You win, you sit down. This is quite a surreal moment. It’s a joy sharing this victory with somebody else who I like very much, who we had a great two weeks with. It’s quite different to anything I’ve ever gone through.”

Federer, who carried the Swiss flag at the opening ceremony, was clearly fired up throughout the contest.

The 27-year-old 12-times Grand Slam champion is usually cool and calm on court but on Saturday he was clenching his fists at crucial points and roaring praise at Wawrinka.

The Swiss has endured a barren year and was knocked out of the singles here by James Blake in the quarter-finals.

He was clearly in no mood to let his chance slip this time.

Fittingly it was he who had the job of serving for gold at 5-3 in the fourth set. He duly obliged before embarking on a lap of honour with the Swiss flag.

They had seemed set for a comfortable victory when they opened a two-set lead, but Johansson, a former Australian Open champion, inspired a Swedish fightback.

Wawrinka then produced some inspired play to earn an early break in the fourth set and they remained rock solid to the end.

The bronze medal went to American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan who beat French duo Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies